



Class. ^X "h - 

Book _ U J 

Copyright^ - 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



SOME RECENT PHASES 
OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 



JOHN L. NUELSEN, D. D., 

Professor in Nast Theological Seminary, 
Berea, Ohio. 



I 



CINCINNATI: JENNINGS AND GRAHAM 
NEW YORK: EATON AND MAINS 

G 



C^Z 



IIIBHARY "of MNfiRESs) 

Two Copies Rec 

FEB 27 1908 j 



&3W 



copyright, 1908, 
By Jennings & Graham. 




To 
MRS. FANNY NAST GAMBLE, 

The Generous Friend 

of 

The Nast Theological Seminary, 

and of 

The Lakeside Bible Institute. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Pagf 

I. Biblical Studies, ----- 11 

II. The Person and Work of Jesus 

Christ, ------- 44 

III. The So-called "Modern-Positive 

School of Theology," - - 75 

Notes: Recent Literature, - - 107 



FOREWORD 

The following three lectures were deliv- 
ered at the Bible Institute, at Lakeside, O., 
in August, 1907, and have called forth many 
expressions of desire to obtain them in 
printed form. They appear substantially 
as they were delivered. The author does 
not pretend to discuss the whole field of 
German Theology, but merely desires to 
point out some salient tendencies of the 
present day. It is hoped that the appended 
notes may prove helpful in acquainting 
American readers with at least part of the 
most recent German theological literature. 



SOME RECENT PHASES OF 
GERMAN THEOLOGY. 



BIBLICAL STUDIES. 

In calling your attention to some of the 
latest phases of German theological thought, 
I desire to point, in the first place, to the 
fact that in the field of Biblical studies the 
old query, "What is the Bible?" is still in 
the very center of discussion, and is still 
answered in two radically different ways. 
The detailed answers are manifold; but in 
examining them as to their great fundamen- 
tal conceptions, we are compelled, I think, 
to distinguish two great groups of answers. 

What is the Bible? 

One class of theologians looks upon the 
Bible as a book, or rather a collection of 
books, in which, and through which, God in 
some way speaks to man through the experi- 
ences of individuals and nations. Others 
consider the Bible as a collection of books 
in which man speaks to God and of God. 

It is the old question as to revelation 
which divides the Biblical scholars of to-day 
11 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

into two camps. The definitions of the term 
"revelation" vary considerably; but, making 
allowance for all diversities, we again and 
again confront the question: "Is the Bible 
a record of what God, the living, personal 
God, actually did and said in order to give 
to mankind a knowledge of His character 
and will? Or is the Bible a record of what 
a small but highly important part of man- 
kind, in the course of centuries of searching, 
thought to be the nature and will of God?" 
Do we find in the Bible Divine verities, or 
do we find human aspirations and longings, 
and fears and hopes? Is the main current 
in this book from God to man, or is it from 
man to God? 

The question penetrates still deeper. Is 
there such a thing as Divine revelation? Or 
is not in fact what was formerly called 
revelation, nothing but the necessary and 
spontaneous development of forces inherent 
in human nature? 

We simply mention the question to point 

out the fact that it is the question which 

separates the scholars of to-day. We can 

not discuss the problem itself. But two or 

12 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

three things are evident: 1. The question is 
as old as the hills. Merely the form in 
which it is presented and the means which 
are applied to solve it are new. That is to 
say, they correspond with modern methods 
of investigation and the present status of 
knowledge, or, at least, supposed knowl- 
edge. 2. The answer to this question is not 
the result of an impartial study of the Bib- 
lical records themselves, but is determined 
by our "Weltanschauung ;" that is, our a 
priori conception of the final cause of the 
universe. 3. The answer to this question 
which every scholar virtually gives before he 
begins his Biblical studies, determines his 
whole attitude towards the contents of the 
Biblical books, whatever his methods of in- 
vestigation, or his scholastic attainments, or 
his intellectual powers may be. 

These considerations, which present them- 
selves as the result of the study of the his- 
tory of Biblical investigation and of the 
present status of BibKcal science, show that 
the conclusions presented by Biblical schol- 
ars as the results of their investigations de- 
pend, as to their theological, vital signifi- 
13 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

cance, not so much upon linguistic learning, 
or archaeological discoveries, or critical 
acumen, or historical insight, or philosophi- 
cal penetration, but, after all, more upon 
the personal preconceived beliefs of the 
individual scholar. The old Latin saying, 
ff Pecus est quod theologum facit" (it is the 
heart that makes the theologian), is still 
true. That is to say, the personal relation 
which the student sustains toward the spir- 
itual, experimental truths recorded in the 
Bible, the personal relation to God, deter- 
mines his theology. 1 

The Religion or the Bible. 

Present Biblical discussions in Germany 
do not concern various interpretations of 
given texts, nor questions of literary author- 
ship. The literary problems of sources and 
dates and names are certainly being dis- 
cussed, but only incidentally. The real 
problems go much deeper. The literary 
questions, after all, touch only the surface. 
There was a time when it was thought that 
the truth of Christianity depended on the 
14 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

results of literary or, later, of historical 
criticism, and a good many good people 
were afraid that the foundations of our 
faith would be shaken, if scholars should 
reach the conclusion that certain Biblical 
books were written in a different time and 
by a different author than was commonly 
held according to tradition. This time is 
passed. Suppose it were settled beyond the 
shadow of a doubt who wrote every word of 
the Pentateuch, or every word of the Book 
of Isaiah, there still remains the more im- 
portant question : Do these words contain in 
some way an authoritative message from 
God to man, or are they the expression of 
human attempts to know God and serve 
Him according to the supposed knowledge? 

Try as we may, we can not escape this 
question. It confronts every subject of 
modern Biblical research; it lies at the root 
of every problem in Biblical investigation. 

This will be made clear by glancing at 
the questions which are at present in the cen- 
ter of the conflict. The most important ones 
may be summarized somewhat like this : 

What is the origin, genesis, and develop- 
15 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

ment of the religion of which the Old and 
the New Testaments are the official records? 

Is this religion a purely natural product, 
or does it show any evidences of supernat- 
ural influence? 

Can the teachings of the Old Testament 
be traced to Babylonian or other Oriental 
sources, or are these teachings in whole or 
in part through Divine revelation? 

Is the Biblical religion the absolute re- 
ligion, or perchance only the best among 
many, each of which has its virtues? 

Did the Gospel as Christ originally pro- 
claimed it contain any of the Christology 
of John and of Paul, or of the atonement 
theory of the latter; or is what is generally 
accepted as orthodox theology, really an 
addition made to original Christianity by 
the Apostle Paul, so that the latter, rather 
than Jesus himself, is the founder of Chris- 
tianity as held and taught by the Church? 

These are matters which touch, as John 
Wesley would say, the very roots of the 
Christian religion. 



16 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

Peculiarities of the Present Conflict. 

It is due to this fact that the line of 
demarcation between conservative and lib- 
eral theologians in Germany is drawn quite 
sharply to-day. Germans, as a rule, are 
very unwilling to waive questions of minor 
importance and unite on essential points. 
They are great sticklers for details, and are 
very slow to unite in any common cause 
with any one who does not agree with them 
in nearly every opinion. What has been 
true in the political life of the Germans for 
nearly a thousand years is true also in the 
realm of scholarship. The very fact that 
of late first things are being placed first, 
and that scholars representing different 
schools of thought found it possible to over- 
look minor differences and unite in a com- 
mon cause, shows that, to their minds, the 
very fundamentals of Christianity are at 
stake in the conflict which is raging now. 
The lines are drawn much sharper now than 
they were even ten years ago. Almost every 
theologian of note is associated with the 
"moderns," as the liberals are generally 
2 17 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

called, or with the "positives." Both parties 
issue a series of learned commentaries and 
text-books, popular pamphlets, magazines, 
and all of these publications have on their 
title-pages long lists of names of their regu- 
lar contributors. A man belongs either to 
the contributors to the "Religionsgeschicht- 
liche Volksbiicher," and that means he is a 
liberal, or to the contributors to the "Bib- 
lische Zeit- und Streitfragen," and that 
means he is a conservative as far as the 
great fundamental facts of historical Chris- 
tianity are concerned, whatever his views 
may be regarding questions of literary 
criticism. 2 

Another notable characteristic of present 
discussion is the fact that the battle is being 
fought, not only in the secluded lecture- 
rooms of the universities, and by means of 
learned monographs and heavy volumes 
which only a few specialists study, but that 
the results of scholarship are being popular- 
ized and scattered broadcast in the form of 
inexpensive pamphlets and in magazines. 
Until quite recently the German professor 
disdained most cordially to step down into 
18 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

the walks of the common people and to in- 
struct the masses. He wrote his books and 
treatises for the learned specialists, leaving 
to his pupils the task of gradually popular- 
izing his discoveries and conclusions. But 
now he finds himself compelled to write, in 
addition to his learned books, popular 
pamphlets. The average man wants to 
know from the scholar himself what he is 
doing, and wants to form his own judgment. 
This demand for generalization and pop- 
ularization of learning is certainly very en- 
couraging, but it is fraught with the danger 
of scattering in the garb of established truth 
what are in fact merely hypothetical conjec- 
tures, and also of unduly disquieting and 
exciting a great many honest, truth-loving 
folk, because "a little knowledge" and half- 
truths are dangerous things. There is also 
a great temptation to play to the galleries, 
to coin and use popular catchwords, to rely 
for success upon the applause of the crowd 
instead of depending upon the power of the 
truth. It can not be said that recent Ger- 
man theology has fully escaped this danger. 
Moreover, when we deal in a popular way 
19 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

with subjects which are of prime importance 
to the spiritual welfare of man, which deter- 
mine the course of his present life and his 
hopes for the future, it would seem that the 
utmost care and reluctance are imperative, 
lest irreparable damage be done. 

The methods of investigation are the same 
with liberals and with conservatives, — their 
conclusions as to the literary questions are 
at times in perfect agreement ; but the start- 
ing points are different, the spirit in which 
the investigation is carried on is different, 
and the conclusions are so widely different 
that the metaphor of the "impassable gulf" 
between the two views, which the elder De- 
litzsch first used nearly a generation ago, 
holds true to-day more than ever. 

The "Reeigionsgeschichtliche" Point 
of View — Its Origin and Method. 

The one word which is used to-day more 
than any other in reference to Biblical 
studies, and which is the chosen watchword 
that unites the various wings of the liberal 
camp, is the word "Religionsgeschichte." I 
20 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

must confess I know of no word in the 
English language which would adequately 
express the idea contained in this rather 
lengthy German word. I have asked a 
number of American scholars and found 
that they were in the same predicament. 
Of course Religionsgeschichte means, 
literally translated, "history of religion," 
and the adjective "religionsgeschichtliche" 
might be rendered by "historico-religious ;" 
but I fear these English words do not as yet 
give the full meaning of the German ex- 
pression. 

What is really meant is the view which 
considers the religion of the Bible as the 
necessary product of the evolution of the 
religious life and thought of mankind in 
the past. The religion of the Bible, it is 
claimed, can not be understood when iso- 
lated, but must be studied in connection with 
all other religions, and its various phases 
may be explained by the process of histor- 
ical growth and by the interchange of reli- 
gious ideas among various peoples. 

This view is not the capricious notion of 
some scholar or clique of scholars, elaborated 
21 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

for the purpose of attacking Christianity. 
It is rather to be understood as the outcome 
of the development of historical and scien- 
tific methods of investigation and of our 
present mode of thinking. The whole trend 
of thought and the method of investigation 
during the last century have been from the 
metaphysical and dogmatic to the experi- 
mental and historical. The empirical meth- 
ods are now in vogue in all fields of re- 
search. Investigation is no longer domi- 
nated by metaphysical conceptions, but 
starts from experience, — that is to say, from 
a close study of the facts or phenomena in 
the case; proceeds to study and compare all 
related facts or phenomena, then discloses 
the laws governing the phenomena, and 
finally places the single fact or phenomenon 
in its proper class or order. Thus the im- 
mense mass of seemingly isolated and dis- 
connected phenomena are shown to be com- 
ponent parts of a whole, subject to the 
same great laws, reducible to the same few, 
fundamental principles. 

The two keys which have unlocked the 
doors to so many secrets of the universe, 
22 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

and have made possible the success of mod- 
ern science, are analysis and comparison. 
To analyze the object under consideration 
into its component elements, then to com- 
pare these elements with as many related 
and contrasted elements as possible, and 
thus to understand and use the object for 
our purposes, is the scientific process of to- 
day. We have been trained in this method 
until our whole mode of thinking uncon- 
sciously runs in this channel. 

The theologian is a child of his time. He 
works under the same laws of thought as 
does the man of science. His particular 
branch of investigation is subject to the 
same methods that are applied in other 
fields. Thus it seems perfectly legitimate 
that the same process of analysis and com- 
parison is being applied to Biblical science 
and to the study of the Christian religion. 
I find no fault with the process nor with the 
principle. It is fair, it is legitimate. The 
trouble arises when the principle is over- 
worked to such an extent that the character- 
istic peculiarities of a given object are lost 
in the process. I have no objection if a 

2a 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

man, upon a close analysis of my nature, 
finds in me some animal traits and compares 
me in these points with certain animals. But 
I should object emphatically if he should 
carry his analysis and comparison so far 
that he finds in me nothing whatever that 
differentiates me from an animal, and con- 
sequently proceeds to call me an animal and 
treats me as one. 

The principle of analysis as applied to 
the Biblical writings was for a time so over- 
worked that almost every page of the Bible 
presented an incongruous conglomerate of 
contradictory sources, and documents, and 
fragments, and alterations, and interpola- 
tions, and editorial glosses, and deutero- 
editorial remarks. I am glad to state that 
recent works indicate that a reaction has set 
in. Repeated, deliberate, unbiased investi- 
gation of the whole material on hand estab- 
lishes more and more the conviction that the 
main reason for a great many additions and 
alterations of the text is to be found in the 
"inner consciousness" of the individual 
scholar. But the inner consciousness is not 
a very important factor in modern scientific 
24 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

methods. It belongs to the realm of philos- 
ophy; and the history of philosophy is, ac- 
cording to one of its famous professors, 
"the history of the vagaries and errors of 
the human mind." 

Of greater importance at the present 
time is the application of the principle of 
comparison. Comparative history of reli- 
gions is a distinctively modern branch of 
learning, because not until recently was it 
possible to study all the great religions of 
the world from their own sources. Pick 
and spade and the laborious efforts of pa- 
tient scholars have given the key to the 
languages of dead and buried peoples that 
lived near the cradle of the human race. 
World-wide commerce, world-wide politics, 
world-wide missions, have brought us in 
close contact with other world-wide reli- 
gions. Our missionaries in the foreign field 
as well as our scholars at home — some by 
personal observation and others by poring 
over strange old writings — find that in other 
religions very many ideas, beliefs, usages, 
and rites exist which are similar to many we 
find recorded in the Bible. Sacrifices and 
25 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

miracles, belief in theophanies, incarnation, 
atonement, immortality, can be noticed as 
integral parts of some non- Christian reli- 
gions. Recent discoveries have brought to 
light a mass of Oriental, Greek, Roman, 
Jewish literature, folk-lore, popular super- 
stitions, which show powerful currents of 
thought quite apart from the official reli- 
gions of the priests and poets. This whole 
chaotic mass is being diligently searched, 
and it yields a number of parallels to Bibli- 
cal narratives and accounts. The whole im- 
mense field, not only of religion but also of 
philosophy, of folk-lore, of superstition, of 
popular literature, of rites and customs, in 
short of civilization in its various forms and 
manifestations, is made tributary to the his- 
torico-religious explanation of the religion 
of the Bible. 

Now consider for a moment this twofold 
process of analysis and comparison, and add 
to it as the impelling force the dogma of 
evolution from lower, cruder, less developed 
forms to higher, more developed and diver- 
sified forms by means of action and counter- 
action and mutual fertilization, and you 
26 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

have the explanation of the modern liberal 
view of the origin and development of the 
religion of the Bible. 

Attacks Upon the Wellhausen 
Theory. 

In turning now to some details we notice 
a number of remarkable changes both in Old 
and in New Testament studies. 

The present century commenced with the 
rapid ascendency, if not the triumph, of the 
Wellhausen school of Old Testament criti- 
cism. One of the champions of this school 
wrote: "It conquers one theological chair 
after another. On account of the inherent 
truth this view, in spite of the disfavor which 
is bestowed upon it by conservatives and ec- 
clesiastical authorities, forces men of mature 
judgment and unquestionable piety to ac- 
cept and defend it." 

We recall very briefly that this view, the 
real parents of which are Hegel on the one 
side and Darwin on the other, and which was 
elaborated by Reuss, Vatke, Graf, Kuenen, 
and popularized especially by Professor 
Wellhausen, gives a seemingly logical and 

27 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

satisfactory explanation of the origin and 
growth of Old Testament literature on the 
basis of purely natural and organic evolu- 
tion. The children of Israel were originally 
crude animists; that is, they worshiped 
spirits, especially the spirits of the dead. 
Upon migrating to Canaan they came in 
touch with the higher civilization and more 
developed religion of the Canaanites, and 
gradually became polytheists, and then 
henotheists. One of their deities, the god of 
thunder and lightning, called Jahwe, be- 
came the national god; and his sphere of 
authority extended as far as the territory 
occupied by his worshipers. Under the 
leadership of the prophets, who were men 
of genius in religious matters, a higher con- 
ception of Jahwe was evolved. Jahwe be- 
came more spiritual and more ethical; his 
domain was extended over other nations, his 
power more exalted. The crude and barbar- 
ous forms of worship were supplanted by 
forms which were more in harmony with the 
higher conception of Jahwe, — of course not 
without severe struggles with the ancient ac- 
customed forms. Finally this ethical and 
28 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

spiritual religion was gradually enshrined in 
a mass of ceremonial rites and regulations. 
The place of the prophet was taken by the 
priest ; and the outcome of this long process 
of development is the so-called Law of 
Moses, with its many detailed rites and cere- 
monies. The order of development accord- 
ing to the Wellhausen theory is: Animism, 
polytheism, henotheism, ethical monotheism 
of the prophets, and priestly codification 
after the exile. 

This theory is still held by quite a number 
of scholars. Wellhausen, Marti, Budde, 
Nowack, Duhm, Cornill, and others, make 
it the basis of their investigations. 3 But 
quite recently it has been attacked from dif- 
ferent quarters, and it seems as if the whole 
edifice was badly shattered. 

Passing by the researches of Moller and 
of Dahse, who proved, by an exhaustive 
study of the Septuagint, that the different 
names of God used in the Pentateuch can 
not be considered as indicative of different 
sources, since the Jews were quite arbitrary 
in their use of different designations — the 
Septuagint differing in not less than one 
29 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

hundred and eighty places from the Hebrew 
text — I desire to note especially the book of 
Professor Bruno Baentsch, entitled, "An- 
cient-Oriental and Israelitish Monotheism."* 
It treats of the crucial question in Old Tes- 
tament history. This question is: Is the re- 
ligious history of the Israelites a continuous 
development from lower conceptions to 
higher ones, or is it a continuous reaction, a 
falling back from a higher plane, followed 
by attempted reforms? In other words: 
Were the Israelites originally polytheists, 
turning, in course of their historic develop- 
ment, into monotheists; or were they origi- 
nally monotheists constantly in danger of 
adopting the polytheistic beliefs of the sur- 
rounding nations? Were the prophets the 
originators of a higher form of religion; 
or were they the reformers and spiritual in- 
terpreters of the more ancient religion? 

Professor Baentsch, while admitting that 
the popular religion of the Babylonians and 
Egyptians was polytheistic, concludes that 
the religion of the thinking people, of the 
priests and scholars, was of a decidedly 
monotheistic type. They held that all the 
30 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

various deities were, after all, only different 
manifestations of one god. As early as the 
time of Abraham this monotheistic tendency 
was dominant; and as to Moses, there can 
be no doubt, says Professor Baentsch, that 
he was the preacher of a religious and prac- 
tical monotheism. 

The little book of Baentsch caused quite a 
stir among the adherents of the Wellhausen 
school. And well it might. Baentsch was 
one of their own number. He was trained 
in their methods of investigation. In his 
views as to the literary origin of the Old 
Testament books he is very radical. But 
this very fact makes his conclusions the more 
weighty. If he is able to defend them 
against the attacks which are sure to come 
from Wellhausen and his pupils, the very 
foundation stone of the whole theory of 
the naturalistic development of the religion 
of Israel has been knocked out. 

Another and growing group of oppo- 
nents to the Wellhausen school is formed by 
the newer Semitists under the leadership of 
Professors Winckler and Hommel and Pas- 
tor Alfred Jeremias. Recent discoveries in 
31 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

the Orient have shown conclusively that 
civilization at the time of Moses was by no 
means as primitive and crude as the Well- 
hausen theory had made it necessary to hold. 
The contention that the art of writing was 
then practically unknown was disproved by 
the Tel-el- Amarna tablets; the claim that 
in the time of Moses no nation could have 
possessed a code of religious and social laws 
as minute as the laws of Moses, was made 
utterly untenable by the discovery of the 
now famous code of Hammurabi, who lived 
five hundred years before Moses and wrote 
down laws covering details of religious and 
civil life just as minute and specific as those 
contained in the Pentateuch. 

The more specific and particular knowl- 
edge we gain of the richly developed civili- 
zation among the Babylonians previous to 
the thirtieth century before Christ, the more 
evident it becomes that the foundation 
stones of the Wellhausen theory are placed, 
not upon the rock of facts, but upon the 
sand of the postulates of the philosophy of 
Hegel and of the dogma of natural evolu- 
tion. Dr. Jeremias in his recent book, "The 
32 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

Old Testament in the Light of the Ancient 
Orient," writes correctly: "The school of 
historic critics commenced their work at a 
time when the fields of Oriental archaeology 
were still heaps of sand. They are not able 
to make use of the material discovered in 
those sand-hills, because it contradicts in all 
essential points their self-made assertions." 
And Professor Hommel exclaims triumph- 
antly: "I hear the rustling of the wings of a 
new period, which passes by the conclusions 
of this so-called historical criticism as by an 
antiquated error." 

The adherents of the Wellhausen school 
will either have to build upon a firmer foun- 
dation or they will see their house collapse. 
The interesting feature is that the antago- 
nists who really undermined the walls are 
not representatives of the traditional school, 
but are men who were trained in the Well- 
hausen school. 

Pan-Babylonism. 

To think that this new development 
means a return to the traditional view would 
be a mistake. The modern Semitists con- 
3 33 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

sider the literature of the Old Testament 
only as a subdivision of the great Babylo- 
nian Literature. Says Professor Winckler: 
"The land of Canaan has never been any- 
thing but a domain of Babylonian civiliza- 
tion." Babylonian culture, religion, lan- 
guage, mode of thinking, dominated the 
whole Semitic world, and no Semitic tribe, 
the Hebrews not excepted, could keep aloof 
from its all-pervading influence. 

Some scholars, as for instance Winckler, 
Zimmern, Jensen, Delitzsch, extend this 
Babylonian influence both to form and to 
substance, claiming Babylonian origin for 
practically every Hebrew belief, rite, cus- 
tom, and law. It will be remembered, from 
the so-called Babel-Bible controversy, that 
Professor Delitzsch claimed Babylonian 
origin even for the name of Jahwe — and in 
our next study we shall see that almost every 
feature in the picture of Christ is traced 
back to Babylon — so that there remains 
hardly anything which could be considered 
specifically Hebrew. According to these 
scholars, the historical books of the Old Tes- 
tament are pamphlets with a religio-political 
34 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

tendency. Their religious aim is to incul- 
cate the teaching of monotheism; their po- 
litical object, to demonstrate the religious 
claims of the reigning dynasties. The 
prophets, according to this view, were the 
political advance-agents of Babylonian im- 
perialism, hired to make Babylonian su- 
premacy plausible to the Hebrews as having 
been decreed by Jahwe. 

This view, which is rightfully called Pan- 
Babylonianism, eliminates the traits of a 
special revelation in the life and the religion 
of the Hebrews. The real source of nearly 
everything we find in the Bible is Babylon. 

A small but very able group of scholars 
while admitting Babylonian origin for the 
form of the Biblical accounts, contend for 
their originality as to substance. The most 
noted representative of this class is Dr. Al- 
fred Jeremias, whose great book, "The Old 
Testament in the Light of the Ancient 
Orient," has passed through two editions in 
a short time. In conjunction with Profes- 
sor Winckler, he has begun the publication 
of a series of pamphlets entitled, "Contend- 
ing for the Ancient Orient." Jeremias is 
35 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

convinced that the only key to a proper un- 
derstanding of the Oriental mode of think- 
ing and "Weltanschauung" is to be found 
in the astral view of the Orientals. Every- 
thing that occurs in space and time is, to 
them, determined by the constellation of the 
planets. Changes in the constellation of the 
planets result in corresponding changes on 
earth. Nothing ever happens on earth with- 
out a corresponding event in the heavenly 
world. This astral idea gave form and color 
to all Semitic thinking and writing, just as 
much as the modern scientific methods deter- 
mine the mode of thinking of the present 
generation. The Biblical narratives form 
no exception to the rule. They are astral 
in form. But in this form there may be, and 
there is, says Dr. Jeremias, historical truth; 
and in the religious teaching there is a 
Divine revelation. The mythological traits 
have been eliminated by the Biblical writers 
under the influence of their higher and purer 
conceptions of God. 

These recent tendencies make it appear 
that the question as to the place of the Baby- 
lonian element in the form and substance of 
36 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

the Old Testament writings is at present the 
question in Old Testament studies. 

A few years ago the problem was alto- 
gether different. Scholars wrestled with the 
question: Is the course of the history of 
Hebrew religion as it is given in the Old 
Testament writings correctly stated; first 
the law, then the prophets as the spiritual 
interpreters of the law struggling against 
constant relapses into polytheistic beliefs 
and practices? Or is this course entirely 
wrong? Must we say: First polytheism, 
then the prophets as the founders of mono- 
theism; and finally, at the close of the na- 
tional history, the law? Now the question 
is: Were both lawgivers and prophets, or 
prophets and lawgivers, whoever may have 
been first in point of time, originators; 
or were they imitators and transplanters of 
ideas and belief s that have grown in Baby- 
lonian soil? 

The main work of sane Old Testament 
scholarship in the immediate future will be 
to clearly show the proper relation of Baby- 
lonian to genuinely Israelitish thought and 
belief, and to show, not only the possibility, 

37 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

but the necessity of some special Divine 
revelation as the only satisfactory explana- 
tion of the unique influence which the Old 
Testament has exercised in the history of 
the race. 5 

Conservative Scholars. 

I can not close this survey without calling 
attention to a number of Old Testament 
scholars who patiently and diligently toil on 
in their hard work, a work which is not often 
appreciated, more frequently misunderstood 
even by those who derive the greatest benefit 
from it. These scholars believe in a Divine 
revelation; they are opposed to the natural 
explanation of any scheme of "religionsge- 
schichtliche" evolution; they consider the 
religious history of the Hebrew nation as a 
divinely appointed and guided preparation 
for the coming salvation through Jesus 
Christ, but they refuse to be fettered by any 
iron-clad dogma. They are open to accept 
whatever seems to be well established, even 
if it differs from the traditional view, but 
they do not embrace any new idea simply 
because it is new and brilliant. The sober, 
38 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

painstaking work of men like Professors 
Oettli, Koeberle, Strack, Lotz, Kloster- 
mann, Sellin, Konig, Orelli, and others, will 
in course of time clarify our views and es- 
tablish our faith more firmly. We may not 
agree with all their conclusions, but time 
will rectify minor mistakes. On the whole, 
I think the outlook in the field of Old Tes- 
tament studies in Germany is more promis- 
ing than it was even a few years ago. It is 
true, the critical views concerning the liter- 
ary origin of the Old Testament books find 
more general acceptance, but there is a de- 
cided tendency towards the traditional view 
as to the origin and history of the Hebrew 
religion. That is to say, German theological 
thought is quite radical touching the less 
important question of outward form, but is 
swinging back into a more conservative atti- 
tude towards the more important questions 
regarding the substance and trustworthiness 
of the Old Testament records. 6 

New Testament Studies. 

In New Testament studies we observe the 
very opposite tendency. The views concern- 
39 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

ing the literary origin of the New Testa- 
ment writings are decidedly more conserva- 
tive than they were a generation or even a 
decade ago; but opinions on the real con- 
tents of these same books are more radical 
than ever. 

It is interesting to note that this retro- 
gressive movement in literary criticism 
starts with one of the leaders of advanced 
liberal thought. In 1897 Professor Har- 
nack published his "Chronology of the An- 
cient Christian Literature," and wrote in 
the preface the following remarkable para- 
graph: "There was a time in which scholars 
thought they were forced to consider the 
oldest Christian literature, including the 
New Testament, as a fabric of falsifica- 
tions and deceptions. This time is passed. 
For theological science it was an episode 
during which much has been learned and 
after which much must be forgotten. The 
oldest literature of the Church is, in the 
main and in most details, considered from 
a literary-historical point of view, true and 
trustworthy." 

This concession was greeted by some con- 
40 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

servatives with a shout of joy as indicating 
a complete change in the position of Har- 
nack; but this is a mistake. Harnack was 
very careful to distinguish between form 
and substance, and maintained that his more 
traditional view regarding the literary form 
of the New Testament did not in the least 
change his liberal interpretation of the sub- 
stance. He makes this very plain in his 
latest book, published April, 1907. Its title 
is, "Luke, the Physician," and it is the first 
installment of a number of studies in New 
Testament Introduction. On account of its 
importance I shall quote the whole para- 
graph : 

"The genuine letters of Saint Paul, the 
writings of Luke, and the Church History 
of Eusebius are the pillars for our knowl- 
edge of Ancient Christianity. Touching 
the writings of Luke this is not yet suffi- 
ciently recognized. The failure to appre- 
ciate these writings is due to the fact that 
criticism thought Luke could not have writ- 
ten them. I hope to show in the following- 
pages that criticism was mistaken and that 
tradition is right. . . . Ten years ago I wrote 
41 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

that, in our view as to the sources of oldest 
Christianity, we were in a retrogressive 
movement. Some of my friends found 
fault with this statement. They will receive 
herewith a new proof of its truth. My op- 
ponents treated this statement much worse. 
They quoted me as a witness to the fact 
that we were in a retrogressive movement 
in our views as to the contents. This is a 
mistake. I repeat emphatically that in the 
'Sachkritik' (the criticism of the contents) 
many positions appear more and more un- 
tenable and must yield to new views. Be- 
tween the years 30 and 70, in Palestine, 
more correctly in Jerusalem, has really 
everything taken place that has subsequently 
developed. Besides, only Phrygia, with its 
strong Jewish population, and Asia were 
of importance. This fact becomes increas- 
ingly clear, and will displace the former 
critical view according to which the funda- 
mental development was supposed to have 
extended for a period of more than one 
hundred years, and according to which the 
whole dispersion was to be considered just 
as much as Palestine. With regard to the 
42 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

chronological frame- work, the majority of 
the leading persons, and the soil, the old tra- 
dition is essentially correct, but beyond this, 
that is to say in our understanding of the 
facts themselves, we have to rely upon our 
own judgment and very frequently can not 
accept the ideas and explanations of the 
original writers." 

The last sentence shows in what direction 
the problems in New Testament studies lie. 
The question is not so much, When and by 
whom were the New Testament books writ- 
ten? nor even the question, What ideas and 
interpretations did the original writers mean 
to convey to their first readers?— but the 
more important question, Were the original 
writers correct in their views and interpreta- 
tions, or are we in a position to improve 
upon them and see the truth more clearly 
and fully? From the historical question, 
What did these writings mean to those who 
wrote and first read them? German theology 
is now turning more and more to the ques- 
tion, What do these writings mean to the 
present generation? 7 



4*3 



II 



THE PERSON AND WORK OF 
JESUS CHRIST. 

Every old Testament problem becomes in 
course of time a New Testament question. 
Every Biblical question places us after a 
while face to face with Him who is the 
center of the whole Bible, with Jesus Christ. 
Thus we see that the Old Testament ques- 
tions which we discussed in Part I are rap- 
idly becoming the burning problems in New 
Testament studies, especially in the present 
discussion over the person and Gospel of 
Jesus Christ. I shall confine myself to 
pointing out briefly some of the most inter- 
esting and important features of this dis- 
cussion. 

Was Jesus a Real, Historical Person? 

In the closing years of the eighteenth cen- 
tury the thought was advanced by a number 
of rationalistic theologians that the doctrines 
held by the Church and formulated in her 
creeds were the joint product of New Tes- 
44 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

tament religion and Greek philosophy. 
This thought was taken up by Professor 
Harnack of Berlin, and in his great work, 
"History of the Christian Doctrine," he dis- 
closed the complicated process by which the 
Church in developing her doctrines became 
Hellenized; thus it was made incumbent 
upon the student of Church history to ex- 
tricate, by a process of careful analysis and 
comparison, the genuinely Christian ele- 
ments from the meshes of foreign thought. 
Harnack, it is true, applied this principle 
only to post-apostolic times, but since the 
appearance of his book investigation has 
proceeded along the same lines and is now 
covering the Biblical writings as well. 

Old Testament scholars and Semitists — as 
Gunkel, Meyer, Meinhold, Gressmann, 
Winckler, Zimmern, Jensen — followed the 
traces of Babylonian influences down 
through the period of later Judaism to New 
Testament times; New Testament scholars 
— as Schiirer, Baldensperger, Bousset, 
Pfleiderer, Schmiedel, Holtzmann, Weinel, 
Wernle, Wrede — studied Greek and Jewish 
thought in its influence upon the early 
45 



S OM E RECENT P HA S E S 

Christian writings. They found it neces- 
sary to eliminate first the whole of Johan- 
nine theology as a foreign substance; then 
they threw overboard the Apostle Paul as 
the great perverter of the simple teaching 
of Christ; next they cleared the Synoptical 
Gospels of all Babylonian, Egyptian, 
Phrygian, Jewish, Greek, and other foreign 
matter. They have just about finished this 
arduous work of purifying and simplifying 
the Gospels by this double process of "Reli- 
gionsgeschichtliche" analysis and compari- 
son, in order to discover the real, historical 
Christ; they meet at the feet of this Christ, 
to see Him as He really is ; but, behold, He 
is no more ! Not a trace of Him is left. 
Trait after trait, feature after feature, has 
been analyzed and compared, until neither 
manger nor cross nor grave, not even His 
garments, are left. A few years ago we 
had, by the grace of the most advanced 
scholarship, at least a plain Galilean peasant 
with a very good heart. Even if His mind 
was rather too simple, we were allowed to 
believe in a kind-hearted carpenter's son, 
who went about doing good, and to whom at 
46 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

least eight rather inoffensive, sayings could 
be historically traced; as, for instance, the 
saying, "It is more blessed to give than to 
receive;" but even this peasant has evap- 
orated, or, better, the great Babylonian 
flood which the mighty Bel caused to drown 
all mankind has completely swallowed up 
the little that was left of Jesus of Nazareth. 

I beg your pardon for this tone of levity. 
The whole matter would be very serious if 
it were not so utterly absurd. But the fact 
is that German theology is just now con- 
fronted with the question, Was Jesus Christ 
a real, historical person, or is He nothing 
but a literary hero? 

From two very different quarters the 
question as to the historicity of Jesus of 
Nazareth has been raised. At first blush 
we may think it is ridiculous to raise 
the question at all. And so it is. But the 
very fact that scholars do raise the question 
and mean to be taken seriously, is the neces- 
sary result of tendencies in theology which 
have been fostered until they have reached 
this culmination point. And this fact will, 
I trust, open the eyes of many in Germany, 
47 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

and in America as well, who are in the habit 
of intrusting themselves to the guidance of 
brilliant and charming leaders without real- 
izing at the start whither they were going. 

Christ a Product of Babylonian 
Mythology. 

The first avenue which led to the negation 
of the historicity of Jesus Christ is the 
religionsgeschichtliche comparison. The re- 
ligionsgeschichtliche study of the New Tes- 
tament aims, as Professor Bousset puts it, 
"to understand the origin and development 
of Christianity by means of an investigation 
of the whole environment of primitive 
Christianity." Applying this principle to 
the person and work of Christ, Professor 
Pfleiderer of Berlin, in his "Early Concep- 
tions of Christ," finds that "the Christ of 
the Church has been formed out of those 
myths and legends which are the common 
property of religion all over the world. The 
elements of the figure are roughly separable 
into five groups. There is Christ, the Son of 
God; Christ the Conqueror; Christ the 
Wonder-worker; Christ the Conqueror of 
48 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

death and the Life-giver; Christ the King 
of kings and Lord of lords. The materials 
for each of these conceptions were taken 
from various sources. They came from 
Judaism, from Hellenism, from Mithraism, 
and the Grgeco- Egyptian religion, from 
Zoroastrianism, and even from Buddhism. 
They came gradually, and gradually the 
conception took shape." 

The specific contribution of Babylonian 
mythology to the picture of Christ, as de- 
picted in the Gospels, consists, according to 
Professor Zimmern, of the following points : 
1. "The conception of Christ as a pre-mun- 
dane, heavenly, divine being, who is at the 
same time the Creator of the world. 2. The 
accounts of the miraculous birth of Christ, 
of the homage offered to the new-born child, 
and of the persecutions. 3. The conception 
of Christ as the Savior of the world, and as 
ushering in a new period of time, appearing 
as He does in the fullness of time. 4. The 
conception of Christ as being sent into the 
world by the Father. 5. The doctrinal as- 
pects of the suffering and death of Christ, 
apart from the historic facts. 6. The doc- 
4 49 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

trine of the descent of Christ into Hades. 
7. The doctrine of the resurrection of Christ 
on the third day after his death. 8. The 
doctrine of His ascension after forty days. 
9. The doctrine of Christ's glory, sitting, at 
the right hand of God and reigning with the 
Father. 10. The belief in the coming again 
of Christ at the end of days in kingly glory, 
and also of the last conflict with the powers 
of evil. 11. The idea of the marriage of 
Christ with his Bride at the beginning of the 
new time, of the new heaven, and the new 
earth." 

While Professor Zimmern advances these 
thoughts very carefully and guardedly, 
Professor Jensen, of the University of Mar- 
burg, affirms most positively that the whole 
life of Christ is essentially a Jewish version 
of the Babylonian Gilgamesh Epos. His 
book appeared February, 1907, is a large 
volume of over one thousand pages, and 
bears the title, "The Epos of Gilgamesh 
in the World Literature. The Origins of 
the Old Testament Patriarch, Prophet, and 
Redeemer Legends and of the New Testa- 
ment Jesus Legend." 
50 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

The main contention of the book is stated 
by the author himself in the following 
words: "That practically all of the Gospel 
narrative is purely legendary, and that there 
is no reason at all to consider anything that 
is told of Jesus as historical. . . . The Jesus 
legend is an Israelitish Gilgamesh legend. 
... As a Gilgamesh legend the Jesus legend 
is a sister legend to numerous particularly 
to most, of the Old Testament, legends." 
In his concluding chapter Professor Jensen 
writes: "Jesus of Nazareth, in whom, as in 
the Son of God and the Savior of the world, 
Christianity has believed for nearly two 
thousand years, and who is regarded, even 
by the most advanced scholarship of our own 
day, as a good and great man who lived and 
died the sublime pattern of the ideal ethical 
life — this Jesus has never lived upon earth; 
neither has He died, because He is nothing 
but an Israelitish Gilgamesh. We, the chil- 
dren of a much-lauded time of progress and 
achievements, we who look down upon the 
superstitions of the past with a forbearing 
smile, we worship in our cathedrals and 
churches, in our meeting-houses and schools, 
51 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

in palaces and shanties, a Babylonian deity." 
I took occasion, in the preceding study, 
to state that there was a time when critical 
analysis of the Biblical texts had run wild. 
Professor Jensen's book is comparison run 
mad. 

I should not have taken the time to quote 
from Jensen, but should have dismissed his 
book with a forbearing smile, if he were not 
taken seriously by a number of scholars. 
To my amazement I noticed that as careful 
and sane a scholar as Professor Zimmern 
wrote an extended review of the book, ap- 
proving it almost without qualification, and 
saying: "Jensen will hardly succeed at once 
in seeing his ideas accepted. But truth is 
not depending upon immediate success, and 
will in this case, even as in others, be vic- 
torious, though not without great trouble, 
and only slowly. The weight of facts which 
this book adduces is too immense." 

The other reason why I referred to this 
book is to show that the logical and unavoid- 
able result of explaining everything dis- 
tinctively Christian in the Bible by applying 
the principle of comparison, or, in other 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

words, that the strict and unhampered fol- 
lowing of the "religionsgeschichtliche" 
method, as it is in vogue at present, must 
lead to absurdities. 1 

The Myth of Theodore Roosevelt. 

Allow me a digression. I wish to apply 
these same principles of analysis and com- 
parison to a modern personality, following 
strictly the methods of Professor Jensen. 
Suppose Lord Macaulay's famous New 
Zealander, whom he pictures as standing 
upon a broken arch of London Bridge, in 
the midst of a vast solitude, to sketch the 
ruins of St. Paul's, should come over to 
America and dig in the sand-hills covering 
the Congressional Library in Washington. 
He finds a great pile of literature which 
originated in the first few years of the 
twentieth century. In the very learned book 
which our New Zealand scholar publishes 
he refers to the fact that at the beginning 
of the twentieth century the head of the 
great American nation was supposed to be 
a strong and influential man by name of 
Theodore Roosevelt. His name has gone 
53 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

down in history, but our scholar proves that 
Theodore Roosevelt was no historical person 
at all. He never lived ; he is merely the per- 
sonification of tendencies and mythological 
traits then dominant in the American nation. 
For instance, this legendary hero is com- 
monly pictured with a big stick. Now, this 
is plainly a mythological trait, borrowed 
from the Greeks and Romans, and repre- 
sents really the thunderbolt of Jupiter. He 
is pictured as wearing a broad-brimmed hat 
and large eye-glasses. This mythological 
feature is borrowed from old Norse my- 
thology, and represents Woden endeavoring 
to pierce through the heavy clouds of fog 
covering his head. A great many pictures 
show the legendary hero smiling and dis- 
playing his teeth. This is a very interesting 
feature, showing the strong African influ- 
ences in American civilization. Many con- 
tradictory legends are told about this man. 
He was a great hunter; he was a rough 
rider; but he was also a scholar and author 
of a number of learned books. He lived in 
the mountains, on the prairie, and in a large 
city. He was a leader in war, but also a 
54 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

peacemaker. It is said that he was appealed 
to by antagonizing factions, even by war- 
ring nations, to arbitrate. It is self-evident 
that we have here simply the personification 
of prominent character traits of the Ameri- 
can people at various stages of their his- 
torical development. They loved to hunt, 
to ride, to war; reaching a higher stage of 
civilization, they turned to studying, writing 
books, making peace; and all these contra- 
dictory traits were, in course of time, used 
to draw the picture of this legendary na- 
tional hero. Some mythological features 
have not yet been fully cleared up; for in- 
stance, that he is often represented in the 
shape of a bear or accompanied by bears. 
For a while these "Teddy Bears" were 
nearly in every house, and it seems as if they 
even were worshiped, at least by the chil- 
dren. There is no doubt that some remote 
astral conception lies at the root of this 
rather puzzling feature. 

But two reasons are conclusive to estab- 
lish the legendary thesis. 1. The American 
nation, at the beginning of the twentieth 
century, had hardly emerged from the 

55 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

crudity of f etichism and witchcraft. Many 
traces of fortune-telling, charming, sorcery, 
and other forms of superstition can be 
found by studying the daily papers. Even 
this hero Roosevelt was given to some such 
superstition. Whenever he desired to bring 
any one under his spell and charm him, he 
took him by the hand and pronounced a 
certain magical word. As far as I can dis- 
cover it spells something like ' 'dee-lighted. " 
2. The other conclusive proof is the name. 
Theodore is taken from the language of a 
people representing the southern part of 
Europe and means "Gift of God;" Roose- 
velt is taken from the language of a people 
representing the northern part of Europe, 
and means "Field of Roses." The idea is 
evident: This hero personifies the union of 
the two European races which laid the foun- 
dations of early American civilization — the 
Romanic and the Teutonic races; and the 
Americans imagined that a man who united 
in himself all those wonderful traits of char- 
acter must necessarily be a miraculous "Gift 
of God," and furthermore they thought that 
if a man personifying their ideals really had 
56 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

full sway, their country would be changed 
to a "Field of Roses." 

This explanation is strictly scientific. No 
doubt a good many machine politicians and 
heads of trusts would be delighted to awake 
some morning and find out that Theodore 
Roosevelt is nothing but a mythological fig- 
ure. But, thank God, he is a living fact and 
tremendous power in the life of our nation. 
And so is Jesus Christ. 

The Christ of Liberal Theology. 

The other avenue which led to the nega- 
tion of the historicity of Jesus Christ is 
the well-known modernization and reduction 
of the life and work of Jesus which liberal 
theologians have accomplished by means of 
literary and historical criticism. The history 
of the critical investigation of the life of 
Jesus during the last hundred and fifty 
years is an intensely interesting and instruc- 
tive study. It has recently been summarized 
by Dr. A. Schweitzer in his book, "From 
Reimarus to Wrede." (Reimarus, the con- 
temporary of Lessing, whose "Wolfen- 
biittler Fragmente" mark the beginning of 

57 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

modern critical research in the life of Christ ; 
Professor William Wrede, who died in 
November, 1906, was one of the most prom- 
inent liberal theologians. ) A more popular 
presentation of the subject, covering the 
latest phases, is given by Professor Grutz- 
macher in his booklet, "Is the Liberal Pic- 
ture of Jesus Modern?" 2 

Without going into the history of this 
investigation I merely state that the life of 
Christ as it is presented now by all liberal 
theologians — as Harnack, Bousset, Weinel, 
Wrede, Holtzmann, Julicher, Wernle 3 — as 
the established result of critical scientific re- 
search, is gained, not from an examination 
of the whole New Testament material, but 
by means of a complicated process of find- 
ing the alleged true sources from which this 
life may be construed. The oldest portions 
of the New Testament literature, the Pau- 
line writings, can not be considered as 
genuine sources, because, as Professor 
Wernle states, "Jesus knew nothing of that 
which to St. Paul is everything. That Jesus 
regarded himself as an object of worship 
must be doubted; that He ascribed any 
58 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

meritorious atonement to His death is al- 
together improbable. Paul is not a disciple 
of Jesus. He is a new phenomenon. Paul 
is much further removed from Jesus in his 
teaching than he would seem to be when 
regarded only chronologically." 

We turn now to the four Gospels, but 
of these "the Gospel of John can in no wise 
be considered a historical source," says Har- 
nack ; and he is seconded in this assertion by 
all liberals. Says Wernle: "St. John must 
retire in favor of the Synoptic Gospels as 
source of the life of Christ. Jesus was as 
the Synoptics represent Him, not as St. 
John depicts Him." And again: "In the 
first Gospels there is nothing taught con- 
cerning redemption, atonement, regenera- 
tion, reception of the Holy Spirit. An al- 
together different picture is presented by 
the greater part of the other New Testa- 
ment writings, especially by the writings 
of Paul and John." 

But even the Synoptic Gospels have to 

be critically analyzed in order to find the 

true portrait of Christ. The Gospels of 

Matthew and Luke, especially in their ac- 

59 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

counts of the infancy and of the death of 
Jesus and of the events that took place after 
his death, and in many other instances as 
well, are rather a portraiture of the crude 
beliefs of the early Christian Churches than 
a historically trustworthy account of the 
real facts. Even in the Gospel of Mark, 
which is considered the oldest and purest, 
we find, according to Professor Wernle, 
that "the historic portrait of Jesus is quite 
obscured; His person is placed in a gro- 
tesquely fantastic light." 

Thus analytical criticism is compelled to 
search for the sources of the Gospels, and 
it has found principally two of them, 
namely, the older Mark document, the 
source of the present Gospel of St. Mark, 
and the Logia, or collection of sayings of 
Jesus, the supposed source of the Gospel 
of St. Matthew. It is certainly true that 
our present Gospels are based upon previous 
sources; but, in the absence of fixed data, it 
is impossible to determine with any degree 
of certainty just what those sources con- 
tained. But critical acumen can not rest 
satisfied even with those sources. Says 
60 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

Wernle: "They are not free from the 
possibility of modification and adulteration. 
They represent the belief of the Christians 
as it developed in the course of four 
decades." It is therefore needful to dis- 
tinguish between genuine elements and later 
additions in those sources. This is an ex- 
ceedingly difficult and delicate task, espe- 
cially since we do not know, for a certainty, 
the form nor the substance of those sources. 
How is it accomplished? I alluded in the 
preceding study to the "inner consciousness" 
of many textual critics. I am reminded of 
this when I hear Harnack blandly say, 
"Whoever has a good eye for the vital and 
a true sense of the really great must be able 
to see it, and distinguish between the kernel 
and the transitory husk;" or when I hear 
Professor Pfleiderer speak of "healthy 
eyes;" or see how Bousset finds the proofs 
of genuineness in the fact that "it is psycho- 
logically comprehensible," or Mehlhorn in 
the fact that "it could not have been in- 
vented." It is with a sense of relief that 
we read Professor Bousset's refreshingly 
naive concession that where we find the 
61 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

sources too meager "we may occasionally 
make use of our imagination/ ' 

Unfortunately our imagination is not a 
safer guide in historical and scientific mat- 
ters than is our inner consciousness, and the 
eyesight of no two men is exactly alike. A 
few T years ago there was in Berlin an ex- 
hibition of paintings representing scenes 
from the life of Christ. Hundreds of 
paintings were exhibited; they were very 
interesting to look at, but they did not con- 
tribute anything to our knowledge of the 
real appearance of Jesus Christ. They were 
nothing but the portraitures of the concep- 
tions which the various artists entertained 
as to the features of Christ. Each artist 
portrayed his own ideal of Jesus. And 
some of the portraits looked so strange that 
no one would have thought it a picture of 
Jesus Christ if it had not been labeled as 
such. 

This is precisely the case with all these 
modern attempts to write a life of Jesus 
Christ minus St. Paul, minus St. John, 
minus Matthew, Luke, and Mark. If you 
examine the character of this Jesus closely, 
62 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

you will find that He is really a portraiture 
of what the author considers his ideal of a 
pure and holy life, clothed in the garb of an 
Oriental peasant two thousand years ago. 

Time prevents me from reproducing here 
the details of this twentieth-century ideal in 
its strange and ancient environments; it is 
a picture of a man from whom every super- 
natural, miraculous, mysterious trait has 
been erased. "Jesus has nowhere over- 
stepped the limits of the purely human," 
says Bousset ; and again : "We do no longer 
start with the thought that Jesus was ab- 
solutely different from us; that He Mas 
from above, we from below. And conse- 
quently we do no longer speak of the 
Divinity of Christ." 

Doubts and fears, joys and griefs, mo- 
ments of ecstasy and of utter dejection, all 
the changing moods of a poor human heart, 
may be found in His life. "He was a poor, 
disquieted man, at times shouting with joy, 
at times woefully despondent," writes Gus- 
tav Frenssen, and adds, "Sometimes He was 
treading upon the very borderland of ex- 
alted insanity." 

63 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

On the whole, Jesus was the personifica- 
tion of faith in God, brotherly love, and 
faith in immortality; at times He seems to 
have taken Himself as the Messiah of His 
people; in everything He was subject to 
the limitations of mankind. There is only 
one difference between this modern view and 
the old rationalistic view. While the old 
rationalists, by all sorts of exegetical jug- 
glery, vainly attempted to show that their 
human and purely naturalistic view of Jesus 
was really contained in the New Testament 
records, the modern rationalists are out- 
spoken in their assertion that their own view 
is radically different from that of the New 
Testament writers. They do not in the least 
try to bridge over this chasm, but state 
emphatically as Jiilicher does, "Where even 
the first apostles have totally misunderstood 
Jesus we must try to understand Him bet- 
ter." 

This is the picture of Christ which the 
leading liberal theologians of to-day have 
scattered broadcast in tens of thousands of 
copies of cheap pamphlets, which is de- 
scribed Sunday after Sunday in thousands 
64 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

of pulpits both in Germany, and, somewhat 
modified and as yet retouched, also in 
America. But again a reaction has set in, 
the sweep of which can not as yet be wholly 
comprehended. 

The Verdict of Infidelity. 

A pupil of modern liberal theologians, the 
former pastor Gustav Frenssen, who is a 
novel-writer of great force, wrote a novel 
"Hilligenlei"(Holy Land), of which hun- 
dreds of thousands of copies were sold. The 
hero of this novel, Kai Jans, is, as is gen- 
erally admitted, a true reproduction of the 
picture of Christ as painted by the liberal 
theologians. This book, as well as some 
other recent publications, gave rise to a 
number of reviews of the "modern Christ" 
by eminent literary men and by philosophers 
who do not claim to be Christians, but are 
known and desire to be known as leaders 
of free thought. Some of them were for- 
merly theologians, but have lost their faith 
in the fundamental truths of Christianity. 
Of these writers I mention Adolf Bartels, 
editor of the "Kunstwart," Leo Berg, 
5 65 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

Eduard von Hartmann, A. Drews, W. von 
Schnehen, C. A. Bernoulli, Dr. Kalthoff, 
the President of the League of Monists, 
and also two physicians, Doctors De Loos- 
ten and E. Rasmussen. 4 

What do these men say? The two phy- 
sicians claim that the only rational explana- 
tion of this Christ is to consider Him as one 
of the great pathological figures in the 
world's history; that means, in other words, 
that He was partially insane. The others 
say exactly what conservative theologians — 
as B. Weiss, Ihmels, Kahler, Zahn, Hauss- 
leiter, Griitzmacher, Lemme, and others — 
always have said against this naturalistic 
representation of Jesus, and what was 
ignored by liberal theologians. But here are 
men who were trained in the methods of 
Pfleiderer, Bousset, and their kin; men who 
possess as much critical acumen and philo- 
sophic penetration as do the liberal leaders; 
men whose thinking is in no wise fettered 
by dogmatic prejudices, — -and their almost 
unanimous verdict is really remarkable. 

All of them say that this picture of Christ 
is both unscientific and unhistorical. It is 
66 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

unscientific, because the methods applied are 
purely subjective. Says Dr. KalthofF, after 
analyzing the Jesus of a number of modern 
theologians: "Every scholar leaves of the 
words of Christ only what he can make use 
of according to his preconceived notions of 
what is historically possible. Lacking every 
historical definiteness, the name of Jesus has 
become an empty vessel into which every 
theologian pours his own thoughts and 
ideas." 

Eduard von Hartmann shows that the 
only results which this method of analytical 
criticism has arrived at are negative results. 
"The historic Christ remains a problematical 
figure which is of no religious value at all." 
W. von Schnehen quotes the liberal Pro- 
fessor Steck, who says, "A strict application 
of these principles of research will show that 
there is not one solitary word of Jesus of 
which we know for certain that it was 
spoken thus and not otherwise by Jesus," 
and uses this assertion to prove that all pic- 
tures of Christ are admittedly uncertain, 
and consequently unscientific. 

But another argument which is of much 
67 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

greater import is advanced. Kalthoff , von 
Schnehen, and von Hartmann reason thus: 
If the liberal theologians admit that their 
picture of Christ is different from that 
which was believed by the Church during all 
the centuries of her existence — different 
from that of St. Paul, of St. John, of the 
Synoptic Gospels, of the sources of the 
Synoptic Gospels; if, as Professor Pflei- 
derer says, "Jewish prophecy, rabbinical 
teachings, Oriental gnosis, and Greek phi- 
losophy had already put the colors on the 
palette from which the picture of Christ 
was painted in the New Testament writ- 
ings;" if, as is admitted, the Church was 
built from the very beginning, not upon the 
Galilean peasant Jesus, but upon the Christ, 
the Son of God ; and if this Christ is nothing 
but the creation of speculative theologians, 
as Paul and John, — then there is no need at 
all of a historic Christ. It is not necessary 
at all that a man Jesus of Nazareth should 
ever have lived in order to explain the fact 
of Christianity. 

Even from the point of view of present 
religious needs of human nature this Jesus 
68 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

of liberal theology is unnecessary. Ortho- 
dox theology is Christ-centric; liberal theol- 
ogy is God-centric. "Back to Christ," ex- 
claims Professor Wernle, "but only as a 
means to return to God the Father. God 
the Father is to regain that supremacy over 
our lives which Jesus had intended to give 
Him, but of which theological dogma has 
deprived Him." The modern thinkers men- 
tioned above can not see the need of any 
human mediator between God and man. 
They want a living, present God, and a con- 
stant present communion with Him, if they 
want a God at all. Neither a Catholic saint 
nor a dead Jew is to st^nd between their 
own lives and God. Says Professor Drews, 
"The belief in the personal grandeur and 
the beauty of character of the man Jesus 
has nothing to do with religion." W. von 
Schnehen writes still more explicitly: 
"Even if God should have revealed Himself 
in the personality of the man Jesus of Naza- 
reth, it is utterly useless to me, unless God 
reveals Himself to me likewise. If He does 
reveal Himself to me, then His revelation 
to Jesus is of no more import to me than 
69 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

is His revelation to any good man or His 
revelation in nature. . . . The exemplary 
moral and religious perfection of Jesus is of 
no benefit whatever to any one except he has 
in his being the same moral and religious 
forces which were in Jesus. But if these 
powers are inherent in him and can be de- 
veloped in his life, then it makes no differ- 
ence by whom they become energized, by 
Jesus or by some one else." 

Quite pathetic are words of Professor 
Drews, showing, as they do, the restlessness 
of an honest but irreligious mind and the 
dissatisfaction with substitutes in religion: 
"We are consumed by a burning desire for 
salvation and we should be satisfied with 
this fabric of the theologians, this picture of 
the historic Christ, who changes His fea- 
tures under the hands of every professor of 
theology who works at it. We need the 
presence of God, and not His past." And 
Dr. KalthofF writes quite correctly: "A 
God in whom we must believe because schol- 
ars say that two thousand years ago the son 
of a Jewish carpenter believed in Him, is 
70 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

not worth the printer's ink that is being- 
squandered about Him." 

The Christ of the New Testament 
the Only Christ. 

I will come to a close. Why did I ask you 
to listen to all these quotations? For two 
reasons : In the first place, I desired to show 
that the modern method of subjective analy- 
sis of the sources and of the "religionsge- 
schichtliche" comparison leads, and as a mat- 
ter of fact did lead, to a complete negation 
of the historicity of the person of Christ. In 
the second place, I wished to point out that 
the modern, liberal conception of Christ, 
which strips Him of all distinctively Divine 
elements and makes a pure man of Him, be 
He ever so good and holy, be He ever so sub- 
lime a pattern of a perfect life, be He ever 
so trustworthy a guide to God, does not and 
can not satisfy the modern man. He re- 
pudiates this man-made Jesus, and even 
accuses his makers of lack of scientific spirit 
and of dishonesty. Says von Schnehen: 
"Christianity is not belief in the man Jesus, 

71 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

but faith in Christ the Savior and Son of 
God. Not the man Jesus, the lovable 
preacher and teacher of morals, who did not 
shrink back from death in obedience to what 
was His conviction, has conquered the world, 
but Christ the Son of God, who died upon 
the cross in order to redeem a lost world. 
This is the Christ of the Gospels and of 
the Church. It is dishonest to call this mod- 
ern view of Jesus and of His religion Chris- 
tian or evangelical. " 

It has ever been the mistake of rational- 
ism to try to make Christianity acceptable 
to the average man by taking off the edges 
of its supranaturalism. It has ever been a 
failure, and ever will be so. 

The testimonies of these modern men 
show that the portrait of Christ painted 
by liberal theologians of our own day is 
an utter failure. They prove that the mod- 
ern man, as well as man centuries ago, needs 
and wants exactly the Christ of the Church 
and the Gospels or no Christ at all. 

In studying present conditions in Amer- 
ica I am inclined to believe that one of the 
great dangers of the American pulpit con- 
72 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

sists in voicing, somewhat rashly and heed- 
lessly, the views of modern liberal theolo- 
gians if they only be new, brilliant, reason- 
able, and can be covered by the names of 
renowned scholars, without duly considering 
the necessary and logical consequences. It 
seems to me the American pulpit would do 
well to heed this lesson from the latest phase 
of German theological thought: The 
Christ who will conquer the hearts of men 
in the twentieth century is not the bloodless, 
goody-goody, nor the manly, heroic son of 
a Jewish carpenter, but the Son of God, the 
Christ of the Gospels, the Savior of man- 
kind, the risen and living Christ as He has 
been preached through the centuries. 

And even more: The only true, historic- 
ally and scientifically true, picture of the 
life and work and Gospel of Christ is the 
one which is given in the New Testament 
as a whole. The modern historians and 
philosophers tell the modern liberal theo- 
logians in very plain language to be honest 
and quit calling themselves preachers of 
the Gospel of Christ if they do not believe 
in the Christ of the Gospels, and quit calling 
73 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

their congregations Churches of Christ if 
they do not believe in the Christ of the 
Church. Modern man is opposed to all 
shams and insincerities. He has no patience 
with men who, while using the old phrase- 
ology, cleverly substitute their self-made 
Jesus for the God-given Christ. The Christ 
can not be changed. He is the same yester- 
day, to-day, and for evermore. 



74 



Ill 



THE SO-CALLED MODERN-POSI- 
TIVE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY." 

We hear it stated very frequently that we 
live in an age of transition. This is true in 
one sense of the word, but again, almost 
every age is an age of transition. The world 
moves, and as long as it does move, new con- 
ditions will and must arise, and the adjust- 
ment to new conditions is really what we call 
transition. 

But it is equally true that the world has 
moved so rapidly in the last half of the nine- 
teenth century that the process of adjust- 
ment in nearly every sphere of our individ- 
ual and social thinking and living has been 
made quite difficult. The changes have been 
so startling that they have caused, and are 
still causing, states of feverish excitement. 
Feverish conditions make a person very rest- 
less. But fever is, after all, not a disease 
in itself; it is rather the heightened activity 
of the body, caused by an effort to fight off 
danger and adjust itself to new conditions. 
75 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

It is a fact that in theology a state of un- 
rest exists. We do not gain anything by 
bewailing this fact. The only sensible thing 
to do is to look for the causes of the unrest, 
and to apply the proper remedies — of 
course, not opiates and anaesthetics, but res- 
toratives. Feverish conditions are not nec- 
essarily causes for alarm; but neither is the 
body at such times able to do its accustomed 
work. Periods of theological unrest have 
never been very fruitful in spiritual results. 

Allow me to quote a paragraph from a 
very sane article by Professor W. T. David- 
son in the July number of the London 
Quarterly Review: "If religion in any 
country is living and active, it must be in- 
fluenced by all that affects the real life of 
the nation. If intellectual or social move- 
ments pervade the whole of Western civili- 
zation, no one can wonder if religion feels 
the heaving of the subsequent tidal wave. 
It would be a bad sign if this were not the 
case. When great ideas emerge and deepen 
and spread, ideas which affect men's views 
of the universe and their whole outlook upon 
life, then, if religion is not correspondingly 
76 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

deepened and widened, this is a proof that 
it is amongst the things which wax old and 
are ready to vanish away. Such movements 
of thought as are represented by the names 
of Hegel in one direction and Darwin in 
another are like volcanic disturbances, the 
full effect of which is not discernible till 
some time after the original seismic shock. 
In the departments of physical science, of 
philosophy in general and psychology in 
particular, the changes during the last fifty 
years have been momentous. The effect of 
recent discoveries in relation to the ultimate 
constitution of matter can not as yet be esti- 
mated. Biblical criticism has produced 
changes in the mode of viewing the Bible, 
partly as regards its contents, but still more 
as regards the method of understanding, in- 
terpreting, and applying its doctrine, the 
significance of which is visible to all with 
eyes to see. Finally, social movements are 
advancing with almost incredible rapidity, 
and religion and theology are feeling the 
impact as of an incoming tide of revolu- 
tion." 

Every age needs a translation of the un- 

77 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

changing truths of the Christian religion 
into its own terms ; that is to say, into terms 
which the age can understand. It is the 
proper office of theology to find those terms 
which interpret to each generation the 
Christian truths, to take the vessels which 
are used for every-day purposes and pour 
into them the life-giving waters of God's 
revelation. Thus it is certainly true that 
theological formulas are not absolutely 
fixed; it is true in a certain sense that each 
succeeding age needs its own creed. 

Two Extreme Views. 

Every age, and ours as well, witnesses 
two extreme and really dangerous tenden- 
cies. There is on the one side a well-mean- 
ing but utterly useless conservatism; an 
obstinate clinging to old formulas which 
were useful in their time, but which have 
become antiquated and have lost their sig- 
nificance. Insistence upon that which has 
become meaningless will lead to the loss of 
contact with the modern world. The Chris- 
tian religion becomes a venerable relic of 
past times, honored and revered on account 
78 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

of its grand history, but something the prac- 
tical use of which our practical age fails to 
discern. The theology of the Church is, 
then, like a magnificent cathedral, with lofty 
gothic arches, beautiful rosettes, richly 
carved altar and pulpit, artistically painted 
windows. The exquisite harmony of the 
subdued colors appeals to our esthetic na- 
ture; we admire the bold, yet restful, archi- 
tecture; fragrance of incense fills the air; 
the sonorous chant of richly robed priests 
awakens the echo in all the many niches; 
our thoughts are drawn away from the bus- 
tle of modern life, back into the mysterious 
past; they may even be drawn heavenward; 
but when we step out again into the bright 
sunlight we are painfully aware that the 
cathedral stands for a different world from 
the one we live in; the charm has lost its 
power; all that is left is a pleasant recollec- 
tion. 

On the other side there is a tendency, and 
I believe it is even more pronounced in our 
day, to recklessly throw away the old formu- 
las and accommodate the Christian truths 
to every theory and fancy which happens 
79 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

to fascinate men's minds. The line which 
separates form and substance is lost sight 
of, and, in the endeavor to make the Chris- 
tian faith acceptable to the modern man, the 
contents are changed and modernized. The- 
ology is made up to date, it is true, but it 
has lost its distinctive characteristic of being 
a Divine revelation, and has become the 
fashionable philosophy of the day, from 
which men turn away when some other 
philosophy strikes their fancy. The theology 
of the Church is no longer like a cathedral; 
it is rather — well, we can not exactly make 
out whether it is a theater or a gymnasium 
or a clubhouse; it is something very, very 
modern, but it is hard to say what it really 
is. But to-morrow we may see something 
which is still more modern, and we always 
prefer the latest. 

Unreasonable conservatism and senseless 
liberalism have ever been the Scylla and 
Charybdis of theology. The difficult but 
none the less necessary task is to interpret 
the immutable facts of the Christian faith 
to the modern man in such a manner that 
80 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

he knows what we are talking about; that 
he sees and feels the intimate and necessary 
connection between the eternal, unchanging 
Divine world and the world in which he 
moves ; to do this without in any way chang- 
ing the essential contents. 

Our glance at recent views concerning the 
person and work of Jesus Christ has shown 
us the danger of so changing the original 
picture that the features can no longer be 
recognized, and that the picture is therefore 
rejected by the very men for whom it was 
painted. 

In German theology at the present time 
we notice these two tendencies. We find 
hard and fast conservatism; a theology 
based upon the great confessions of faith, 
unwilling to yield one iota of them. We 
find radical and reckless liberalism; a the- 
ology which discards all former standards 
and authorities and attempts to accommo- 
date the Christian faith to every changing 
notion. And find also several attempts at 
a mediating theology. 



81 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

Mediating Theology. 

Perhaps the most noteworthy efforts in 
this direction were, at the beginning of the 
nineteenth century, the theology of Schleier- 
macher, and at the end of the century the 
theology of Ritschl. The first named popu- 
larized his theology in the famous "Ad- 
dresses on Religion." The leading thoughts 
of Ritschl found brilliant presentation in 
Professor Harnack's lectures entitled, "The 
Essence of Christianity," or "What is Chris- 
tianity?" Both books are sincere and 
prompted by the best of motives, but both 
sacrifice too much of the essential contents 
of the Christian faith. 

The last few years have brought to light 
another effort, made by a number of con- 
servative theologians. Their aim may be 
stated in the term which they themselves 
use — namely, to construct a system of 
Modern-Positive theology. The leaders in 
this movement are Professor Reinhold 
Seeberg, of the University of Berlin; 
Richard Griitzmacher, of the University of 
Rostock — which is, by the way, the most 
82 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

conservative and orthodox Lutheran uni- 
versity in Germany — Superintendent Theo- 
dore Kaftan, of Schleswig; Professor Karl 
Beth, of the University of Vienna. Others 
who might be mentioned are Professor P. 
Kropatschek, of Breslau, and Professor K. 
Girgensohn of Dorpat. These men do not, 
as yet, form a theological school or party. 
They may do so in course of time, since they 
agree in the main, and since they are at- 
tacked in common both by the strict con- 
servatives and by the liberals. The very 
fact that a number of theologians simul- 
taneously, but independently of each other, 
have presented, as the result of their mature 
thinking, lines of thought which in the main 
run parallel, may certainly be taken as in- 
dicative of a strong current of thought 
which has to be reckoned with. 

The recent publications of these men have 
called forth quite a copious controversial 
literature. It is perfectly natural that any 
attempt to mediate between two extreme 
views will be open to criticism from both 
sides. The stanch conservatives complain 
that too much is yielded; the liberals com- 
83 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

plain that too much is retained. Without 
going into details I desire to state briefly 
some of the leading thoughts. 1 

These theologians wish to be thoroughly 
modern; that is to say, in touch with the 
modern world. They desire to speak to the 
men of to-day in the language of to-day. 
They reckon with men whose minds are 
trained in modern methods of investigation 
— men whose intellectual equipment and 
whose world of thought are made up by 
contributions from Kant and Goethe, from 
Darwin and Hegel, from Wundt and 
Carlyle and Tolstoi, from Marx and Nietz- 
sche and Ibsen. But they desire to be thor- 
oughly positive as well; that is to say, to 
build upon an objective, fixed, immutable 
foundation. This to-day is peculiarly deli- 
cate and difficult, and the very problems with 
which this theology has to wrestle manifest 
the difficulty. 

If you should ask me to mention these 
problems I might enumerate a great many 
of them ; but it seems to me they all grow out 
of two or three which are at the root of 
modern thinking. 

84 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

Evolution and Revelation. 

The first is expressed by the two terms, 
evolution and revelation. By the term evo- 
lution I do not mean what is perhaps 
most prominent in the popular conception — 
namely, whether man descended from a 
monkey — but I understand the term in its 
philosophic meaning as an explanation of 
the whole universe viewed as a continuous 
and unbroken chain of effects produced by 
inherent forces. Are evolution and revela- 
tion absolute contradictions? Are they dif- 
ferent words for the same thing? Is what 
some are accustomed to call revelation really 
evolution, or is what others call evolution 
really revelation? or are both great facts, 
and can they in some way be reconciled? 
All the questions touching the "religions- 
geschichtliche" view of Christianity, all the 
questions respecting the absoluteness of the 
Christian religion, the unique and authori- 
tative position of Jesus Christ, hinge on the 
answer to this question. A great many con- 
troversies of the present day which create 
much uneasiness in the minds of good peo- 
85 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

pie are the outgrowth of this problem, even 
if they touch matters which to all appear- 
ances have no connection with it. Many of 
the theological battles which were fought in 
past centuries without permanent victory on 
either side are in fact, although the antago- 
nists were not aware of it, based upon this 
very problem. 

Is it possible to solve it? Modern-Posi- 
tive theology says there must be a way to 
solve it, because there can be only one truth, 
even if we have not yet found a satisfactory 
explanation. And while I must confess 
that a really satisfying answer has not been 
given as yet, it is very gratifying to note 
that these men adhere very firmly to the fact 
of the manifestation of the living, personal 
God in nature and in history. They have 
thus far avoided the snares of pantheism, 
or materialism, or monism, or agnosticism, 
into which so many attempts at reconcilia- 
tion have led. 

Subjectivism and Objectivism. 

The second great problem is the relation 
of the subjective and objective elements in 
86 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

religion. This problem is another root from 
which a great many controversies of the 
present day spring forth; as, for instance, 
the question as to the final authority in re- 
ligious matters, and the question touching 
the importance of the historical facts re- 
corded in the Bible. The controversies con- 
cerning the authority of the Bible, the virgin 
birth of Christ, the atonement, the resurrec- 
tion, and many other problems, can not be 
clearly understood unless the underlying 
problem as to the relation of the subjective 
to the objective side of Christianity be 
solved first. 

I can not attempt, in the space of a brief 
lecture, to trace the various stages by which 
theology was led to this problem; suffice it 
to state that a tremendous change in the con- 
ception of the essence of religion was caused 
by the shifting of our whole mode of think- 
ing from the metaphysical point of view 
to the experimental. This change is the re- 
sult of a process of development which filled 
all of the last two hundred years. What is 
the outcome? Briefly stated, it may be said 
that religion is now viewed, not as a system 

87 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

of philosophy, not even so much as an his- 
torical growth, but rather as a phenomenon 
of present human experience. 

Formerly the great facts determining the 
essence and nature of religion were sought 
without, now they are placed within man. 
Formerly theology dealt more with God 
and his attributes; with the world, its crea- 
tion, government, and destiny; with the per- 
son and the work of Jesus Christ; with 
Church organization and ordinances — that 
is, with objects outside of man, and with 
facts of the past. Now it deals with ex- 
periences and states of mind and deeds of 
living men and women individually, and 
with their mutual relations socially. The 
determining factor has been changed from 
the objective to the subjective; and I con- 
sider this change the most important and 
far-reaching that has taken place since the 
beginnings of theology. The change is 
manifest, not only in theology, but it affects 
the whole mode of thinking; and present 
tendencies in theology as well as in philoso- 
phy, in sociology, in ethics, can not be under- 

LOFC 88 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

stood without taking into consideration the 
inverted order of placing the emphasis. 

The Source of Authority. 

I said a minute ago that the two burning 
questions of present day theology — namely, 
the question as to the ultimate authority 
in religion, and the question touching the 
relative importance of the historic facts re- 
corded in the Bible — have their roots in this 
problem. Formerly there was no question 
as to the source of authority. The ultimate 
authority was fixed, was absolute, was out- 
side of man, was God. And God had made 
known His will authoritatively in the Bible. 
The only questions that could be raised, re- 
ferred to the correct interpretation of the 
Bible. For centuries the Church claimed 
to be the sole interpreter. The Reformers 
of the sixteenth century rejected the inter- 
pretation of the Church, and placed in its 
stead the interpretation of the divinely en- 
lightened conscience of the individual be- 
liever. This interpretation was summarized 
and expressed in the various confessions of 
89 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

faith. These great confessions became the 
authoritative interpretation of God's revela- 
tion. But the history of the Protestant sects 
up to the very present has demonstrated 
that, in all matters which lie outside the 
simple facts of man's religious experience, 
this interpretation was not only varying, but 
at times flatly contradictory. Moreover, if 
thie enlightened conscience of the individual 
believer may interpret the Bible, it stands 
to reason that no man nor any body of men 
can assume the right to furnish a standard 
interpretation and make it binding upon 
the consciences of others. 

This difficulty has been an embarrassment 
to Protestantism from its very beginning, 
and has been the source of bitter and shame- 
ful feuds among the various sects. For a 
long while openminded conservative theo- 
logians have felt the perplexity and delicacy 
of the situation, while liberal theologians, 
and likewise Romanists, claimed that the 
position of Protestantism was illogical and 
untenable. Now the weight of this change 
in our whole "Weltanschauung," and in our 
90 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

view touching the nature of religion in par- 
ticular, is brought to bear upon this question 
with increasing force. If the determining 
factor of religion is to be found in my per- 
sonal experiences and actions — that is, in 
my individual life — and if the personal ex- 
periences of a variety of men are, in the 
main, much more identical than their intel- 
lectual interpretations of the objective 
facts, why should there be any need of an 
outside authority to guide me in my per- 
sonal religious life? The only authority 
possible, then, is the fact of personal ex- 
perience. 

By arguing in this wise, the ultimate 
source of authority in matters religious is 
changed from without to within. Accord- 
ing to this new view, the religious experi- 
ences of the men and women whose history 
is recorded in the Bible are not authorita- 
tive, but may be, at best, helpful for the un- 
derstanding of one's own experiences. The 
modern subjectivist considers the Bible the 
best commentary on the personal religious 
life. 

91 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

Present Experiences and Past Facts. 

The other problem: If my present reli- 
gious experience is the determining factor 
in my religion, how can it be in any way 
dependent on my belief in the historical 
truth of some facts that are recorded as 
having taken place hundreds, even thou- 
sands, of years ago. Is my present reli- 
gious experience in any way connected with 
the actual occurrence or non-occurrence of 
some facts of the past? To illustrate. A 
friend of mine asked me recently, "If 
Judge Lindsey in Denver says to a street 
urchin, 'Now, kid, you will do your best; I 
just know you won't go back on me,' and 
the kid tries his best and makes a man of 
himself, where does the atoning death of 
Christ come in?" No one will doubt but 
that this is a reasonable, vital, and im- 
mensely practical question. 

Liberal theology and Ritschlianism, as 
well, separate the subjective from the ob- 
jective. The present religious experiences, 
it is claimed, have nothing to do whatever 
with what may have happened or may not 
92 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

have happened hundreds of years ago. 
Everything that is recorded in the Bible is 
open to investigation, and may be believed 
in as fact or considered as fiction. This is 
purely a matter of historical research. But 
whatever my conclusions may be as to these 
historical and literary questions and as to 
the scientific interpretation of the Biblical 
records, my present religious life is in no 
wise affected thereby. To illustrate: I may 
believe in the fact of a bodily resurrection of 
Christ, or may consider the accounts in the 
Gospels as legendary accrustations, or as 
literary embodiments of lofty spiritual 
thought; this is a question of historical re- 
search; it does not touch my personal re- 
ligious life. The question whether the death 
of Christ is viewed by Himself as of aton- 
ing merit, or whether this new is a specula- 
tive idea injected into Christianity by the 
dogmatician Paul, is for scholars to solve; 
my religious life does not depend on the 
conflicting opinions of scholars. A man, 
it is claimed, may be in personal vital fellow- 
ship with God; he may experience peace 
with God and receive strength from Him 
93 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

to overcome the temptations of life and to 
lead a holy Christlike life, and yet reject the 
recorded facts of the Deity of Christ, His 
supernatural birth, His atoning death, His 
resurrection and ascension. 

By thus severing the connection between 
present religious experience and events of 
the past, Bitschlianism claimed to have rec- 
onciled religion and science or critical re- 
search. This solution of a very perplexing 
difficulty seemed at first plausible; it was 
greeted with joy and adopted by many. 
But the brief lifetime of a single genera- 
tion was sufficient to demonstrate how un- 
satisfactory it was. In Germany Bitsch- 
lianism as a theological movement has spent 
its force. Some of the pupils of Ritschl 
have come nearer and nearer the conserva- 
tive view, others have gone far beyond their 
master in negation, and the younger gen- 
eration, drunk with the new wine of "Beli- 
gionsgeschichte/' looks upon RitschFs views 
as antiquated. Strange to say, while in 
Germany Bitschlianism is a thing of the 
past, in America the thoughts of Bitschl 
seem to gain ground. 
94 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

Modern-Positive theology undertakes the 
task of emphasizing both subjective experi- 
ence and objective fact. Says Professor 
Kropatscheck : "The aim of the theology of 
to-day is to examine more thoroughly the 
Christian experience of the believers ; that is, 
to comprehend more definitely the spiritual 
realities in which God is operative. But 
these experiences are not the object of our 
faith. We do not believe in — that is, we do 
not rely upon — our experience; we believe 
in God. He is the only foundation, not our 
experience. Experience and revelation are 
corresponding realities. Revelation is a sum 
of spiritual truths which can be verified by 
experience as realities and energizing forces. 
If Revelation could not be verified by a 
present or a coming experience its contents 
would come to be a thing of the past. On 
the other side, experience would be an empty 
word, if the proof could not be adduced at 
any time, that back of the experience is the 
objective, unchanging revelation. We must 
try to verify the revelation contained in the 
Bible by personal experience.' ' 

This is not a new truth. The Pietists in 
95 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

Germany, Wesley and the Methodists in 
England and America, preached it and lived 
it. But they were so busy with the practical 
endeavor of saving souls by preaching this 
truth, that they found no time, nor were 
they inclined, to construct it into an elab- 
orate system of theology. Two German 
professors, J. Chr. K. Hofmann and Fr. 
H. R. Frank, both of the University of 
Erlangen, made this principle the basal 
thought of their systems, but not until quite 
recently was its full import recognized gen- 
erally. 

Consequences of Subjectivism. 

While formerly the objective facts were 
emphasized disproportionately, almost ex- 
clusively, the present tendency to lay all the 
stress upon the subjective experience, cut- 
ting it loose from the underlying objective 
facts has led to a number of consequences 
which modern-positive theology has to 
grapple with. 

1. The first result is, that the unique and 
absolute position of Christianity is aban- 
doned. Modern scholars detect no specific 
96 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

difference between the religious experiences 
of a Christian and those of a Mohammedan 
or Buddhist or Confucianist, or, in fact, the 
adherent of any religion. A sincere Bud- 
dhist may have just as blessed experiences 
as a sincere Christian ; a pious Mohammedan 
may be just as happy, may find just as much 
comfort and strength, in his religious ex- 
perience as his good Christian brother. Pro- 
fessor Deussen claims that Christianity, 
Buddhism, Brahmanism, Confucianism, 
and Mohammedanism supplement each 
other and ought to learn from each other. 
2. If religious experience has nothing to 
do with the past, it is obvious that the 
preaching of the facts recorded in the Bible 
is not absolutely necessary to produce this 
experience. Any means which will cause the 
experience is legitimate, and ought to be 
used. Now, modern life is greatly, if not 
principally, influenced by what might be 
termed impressionalism. Modern art is im- 
pressionalistic. The music of Wagner is 
different from that of Beethoven ; the paint- 
ings of Arnold Bocklin are different from 
those of Correggio; Gerhardt Hauptmann 
7 97 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

or Ibsen writes differently from Dante or 
Goethe. Where is the difference? Modern 
art in all its representations aims not so 
much to create lofty ideas, but rather to 
effect nervous sensations. Not clearness of 
thought, but misty, emotional excitement, is 
the aim. This explains why modern art, 
music as well as drama and painting, culti- 
vates so extensively the symbolic and mystic 
and romantic elements. Sophocles, Dante, 
Shakespeare, Goethe, compel us to think in 
order to do ; they make us see a great moral 
law in its bearing upon human life. Bock- 
lin, Sudermann, and Ibsen want us to feel 
or experience some emotion. They deal 
with subjective conditions, not with objec- 
tive facts. The true artist, whether he be- 
longs to the old school or to the new, cer- 
tainly aims also to influence the will, to 
produce moral volitions; but while the old 
school used as an avenue of approach the 
intellect by presenting in the most artistic 
and perfect form some objective fact, the 
new school travels the road of the emotional 
sensibilities. It stands to reason that, if 
religion consists principally in experiences, 
98 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

these experiences may be produced by the 
same means which modern art employs, and, 
as a matter of fact, the whole apparatus of 
impressionalism used to-day in the studio 
of the artist and on the stage finds its way 
into theology and preaching and practical 
Church methods. 

But impressions are somewhat like intoxi- 
cants. More and stronger doses are needed 
to produce results. When the Church has 
reached the limit in producing impressions, 
the people run after other prophets who 
promise to furnish what they long for. 
They try Dowie, Christian Science, Gift of 
Tongues, Spiritism, Theosophy, and other 
fads, and a great many end by reeling into 
infidelity. 

3. We come now to the third and last re- 
sult which I shall mention. If the stress 
is laid exclusively on the experimental side, 
then the proper expert in religious matters 
is not the theologian, but the psychologist 
and the physician. Formerly theology was 
a part of philosophy. The student of theol- 
ogy was required to spend most of his time 
in studying philosophy. Then theology was 
99 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

made a historical science, a branch of his- 
tory. The student of theology had to study 
ancient languages and history. Now theol- 
ogy is becoming a part of experimental psy- 
chology and pathology, both in its narrower 
individualistic and in its wider social sphere. 
The student of theology must, above every- 
thing else, study human nature, individually 
and socially. Thus the theological semi- 
naries are asked to discard the study of He- 
brew and Greek and to introduce psychol- 
ogy and sociology. 

I do not object to the addition of these 
branches to the curriculum. The theological 
student of to-day ought to study a great 
many subjects; the more the better. But 
the question arises, Which of the many lines 
of study is of paramount importance? 
What is the preacher to be? Is he to be an 
interpreter of past facts in which God mani- 
fested His will and by which He set a stand- 
ard for all times ; or is he to be an agent to 
produce certain emotional and ethical results 
by whatever means these results may best be 
effected, irrespective of anything that may 
have taken place in the past? 
100 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

Formerly the philosophers busied them- 
selves with the Christian religion; next the 
historians; now it is the psychologists and 
physicians, especially the specialists on nerv- 
ous and mental disorders. Just before leav- 
ing home this summer I received the pros- 
pectus of a new magazine to be published 
in Germany, devoted exclusively to the 
study of religious phenomena from the psy- 
chological point of view. In the list of con- 
tributors I noticed some theologians, some 
psychologists, but more physicians, and, in 
particular, eminent specialists in the field of 
pathology. 

The Field of Experience the Coming 
Battle-ground. 

The coming battle-ground in theology 
will not be the field of speculative philos- 
ophy. It is too late in the day to act as if 
Kant and Hegel and Schelling had never 
lived. It will not be the field of criticism, — 
neither literary nor historical criticism. 
Christianity as a present force can not be 
denied even by denying the historicity of the 
persons who were its forerunners, founders, 
101 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

and first missionaries. The battle-ground 
will be the field of experimental psychology. 
Mere natural, psychic impressions and emo- 
tions can be explained by mere natural, psy- 
chic causes. And mere natural causes — as 
the power of oratory, music, symbolism, per- 
sonal magnetism — can produce none but re- 
sults which are explicable. The question 
which confronts us is: Is there in Christian 
experience something that is beyond the ex- 
planation of purely natural laws, something 
really divine, something produced directly 
by the Spirit of God? I do not mean to 
say that whatever is explicable has thus 
ceased to be divine, nor do I wish to create 
the impression that the divine is magical, 
disorderly, capricious. But I do mean to say 
that in Christian experience there must be 
something that can be traced back directly 
to a manifestation of the living God in the 
soul of man; not some effervescent impres- 
sion, but something which gives to man last- 
ing power over evil, power over environ- 
ment, power over misfortune, power over 
sin, power over death; something which en- 
ables him to do that which is considered im- 
102 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

possible. Nothing short of this can be called 
Christian experience. 

The Need of an Objective Foundation. 

But if the experience is not to be lost in 
subjectivism, in vague mysticism, in morbid 
impressionalism, in changing moods, in 
fruitless and weakening emotions; if it is 
to be a fellowship with the eternal God that 
endures in eternity, it must have an objec- 
tive basis, some foundation outside of our- 
selves. Every great system of theology has 
felt this need, and tried to meet it. Cathol- 
icism and Anglicanism build upon the sacer- 
dotal conception of the Church; Lutheran- 
ism builds upon the sacrament of baptism; 
all Calvinistic Churches have as a founda- 
tion the doctrine of the eternal decrees; all 
Baptist Churches have back of the per- 
sonal experience the mode of baptism. 
They all have something to fall back upon, 
and upon these objective foundations the 
religious life of many thousands is still 
reared. They remain firm, even if personal 
experience changes. 

Modern-Positive theology does not build 
103 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

upon any of these foundations. They may 
appear firm, but they are artificial. They 
can be undermined by historical criticism 
and scientific research. The most important 
task of the new theological school is to find 
a foundation which is firm and lasting and 
broad and deep. This foundation has been 
clearly pointed out by St. Paul in his letter 
to the Corinthians: "Other foundation can 
no man lay than that which is laid, which is 
Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. iii,). To show the 
vital relation of the Christ — not of the man 
Jesus, but of Christ the Son of God — to 
the experience of the believer, is the work 
which Modern-Positive theology has under- 
taken to do. 

In closing, allow me to state that, to my 
mind, no other Church needs this kind of a 
theology more than Methodism. The Meth- 
odists do not recognize any of the founda- 
tions upon which other Churches built their 
theological systems. We do not link our 
Christian experience to sacerdotalism nor 
sacramentarianism, nor eternal decrees, nor 
modes of baptism; we build upon the direct 
work of the living God in the human soul 
104 



OF GERMAN THEOLOGY 

and do not allow any Church, or priest, or 
sacrament, or decree, or rite, to stand be- 
tween God and the soul. This has ever been 
the glory' of Methodism. It is also her 
danger. It is subjective. It is safe against 
temptations and doubts caused by the at- 
tacks of criticism — whether it be philosoph- 
ical or historical, psychological or medical — 
only when based upon the impregnable rock 
of the person and work of Jesus Christ as 
recorded in the Scriptures, and as mani- 
fested in the holy lives of His followers 
through all the ages. 

Methodist theology has nothing to fear. 
In its central idea it has antedated the new 
"Modern-Positive' ' theology of Germany 
by more than a century. There was no time 
in its history when it was not modern; that 
is to say, it was always permeated with the 
spirit of adaptability to new modes of think- 
ing, and was open to new discoveries in the 
great storehouse of God's truth. It must 
remain alert and elastic and modern. 
Whether the Church undertakes the thank- 
less work of restating her creed or not, every 
Methodist preacher and teacher must have 
105 



SOME RECENT PHASES 

a workable theology which enables him to 
speak to the men of to-day in their own lan- 
guage. But Methodist theology must hold 
fast to the unchangeable fact of the revela- 
tion and manifestations. of the living, per- 
sonal God in the life and work of Him "who 
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, 
glory as of the only begotten from the 
Father" (John i, 14), of Him "who hum- 
bled Himself, becoming obedient even unto 
death, yea, the death of the cross, but whom 
also God highly exalted and gave unto Him 
the name, which is above every name; that 
in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 
of things in heaven, and things on earth, and 
things under the earth, and that every 
tongue should confess that Jesus is the 
Lord, to the glory of God the Father" 
(Phil, ii, 8-10). 



106 



NOTES 

Lecture I. 

1. Recent books on the authority of the Bible 
as affected by modern critical research. — Martin 
Kahler: Dogmatische Zeitfragen. Erster Band: 
Zur Bibelfrage. Leipzig. 1907. — Friedrich Sief- 
fert: Offenbarung und Heilige Schrift. Langen- 
salza. 1905. — F. Niebergall: Wast ist uns heute 
die Bibel? Tiibingen. 1907. — D. Haussleiter: 
Die Autoritat der Bibel. Munchen. 1905. — Wil- 
helm Lotz: Das Alte Testament und die Wissen- 
schaft. Leipzig. 1905. — Justus Koberle: Zum 
Kampfe um das Alte Testament. Wismar. 1906. 

£. Biblische Zeit- und Streitfragen zur Auf- 
klarung der Gebildeten. Herausgegeben von 
Professor Dr. Kropatscheck. Berlin. Edwin 
Runge. This series of pamphlets represents the 
conservative wing. Among the notable contribu- 
tors are Professors B. Weiss, Seeberg, Koberle, 
Konig, Lemme, Kahler, Oettli, Griitzmacher, von 
Orelli, Lotz, Ewald, etc. The Methodist Book 
Concern announces an English translation of some 
of the Zeitfragen under the title, "Foreign Re- 
ligious Series," edited by R. J. Cooke, D. D. 

Religionsgeschichtliche Volksbucher, herausge- 
geben von Fr. Michael Schiele. Tubingen. J. C. 
B. Mohr. This series voices the views of the 

107 



NOTES 

liberals. Among its contributors are men like Pro- 
fessors Bousset, Wernle, Wrede, Weinel, Holtz- 
mann, Schmiedel, Gunkel, Guthe, Pfleiderer, etc. 

These two popular series give, perhaps, the best 
idea of the present problems and their solutions 
offered by German theology. A number is issued 
every month. 

Reviews of theological literature furnish from 
the liberal point of view the bi-weekly Theologische 
Literaturzeitung, edited by Professors Harnack 
and Schiirer, and the monthly Theologische Rund- 
schau, edited by Professors Bousset and Heit- 
miiller. The conservatives are represented by the 
Theologisches Liter -at urblatt, edited by Dr. Hol- 
scher; Theologischer Liter at urbericht, edited by 
Pastor Jordan ; and Die Theologie der Gegenwart, 
a new enterprise started a few months ago by 
Prof. Griitzmacher. 

Of popular weeklies might be mentioned, Der 
Alte Glaube and Die evangelisch-lutherische Kir- 
chenzeitung, representing the staunch Lutheran 
conservatism; Die Reformation, very ably edited 
by Pastor Bunke, of Berlin, by far the best of 
the several conservative papers; and Die Christ- 
liche Welt, the able exponent of Ritschlianism, 
edited by Prof. Bade, of Marburg. 

More learned are the conservative Neue Kirch- 

liche Zeitschrift (monthly, Leipzig, A. Deichert), 

and the liberal Zeitschrift fur Theologie und 

Kirche (bimonthly, Tubingen, J. C. B. Mohr). 

108 



NOTES 

8. The two latest commentaries on the Old Tes- 
tament are based on this view. The Kurzer Hand- 
Comment ar zum Alten Testament. In Verbindung 
mit J. Benzinger, A. Bertholet, K. Budde, B. 
Duhm, H. Holzinger, G. Wildeboer; herausge- 
geben von Karl Marti. Tubingen, J. C. B. 
Mohr, 5 volumes ; and Handkommentar zum Alten 
Testament. Herausgegeben von W. Nowack. 
Gottingen. Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. Among 
the contributors are Profs. Gunkel, Steuernagel, 
Baentsch, Budde, Baethgen, Giesebrecht, Lohr, 
Siegfried. Other recent books representing the 
same point of view are : J. Wellhausen : Die israeli- 
tisch-jiidische Religion in "Die Kultur der Gegen- 
wart". Leipzig. 1906.— K. Marti: Die Reli- 
gion des Alten Testamentes unter den Religionen 
des vorderen Orients. Tubingen. 1906. — K. 
Budde: Geschichte der althebraischen Literatur. 
Leipzig. 1906. 

4. W. M oiler: Historisch-kritische Bedenken 
gegen die Graf-Wellhausensche Hypothese. Gu- 
tersloh. 1899. — English translation: Are the 
Critics Right? London. Religious Tract Society. 
1903. — W. Moller: Die Messianische Erwart- 
ung der vorexilischen Propheten. Giiters- 
loh. 1906. — J. Dahse: Textkritische Bedenken 
gegen den Ausgangspunkt der heutigen Penta- 
teuchkritik. In Arch. Rel. VI, 1903.— B. 
Baentsch: Altorientalischer und israelitischer 
Monotheismus. Tubingen. 1906. 

109 



NOTES 

5. The most convenient book for an understand- 
ing of the position of Pan-Babylonism is the third 
edition of Eberhard Schrader's Die Keilinschriften 
und das Alte Testament, neu bearbeitet von H. 
Zimmern und H. W trickier. Berlin. 1903. — The 
title of Dr. Alfred Jeremias 9 book is: Das Alte 
Testament im Lichte des Alten Orients. 2. Auf- 
lage. Leipzig. 1907. 

Omitting the literature of the Tel-el-Amarna 
Tablets, the Code of Hamurabi and the Babel-Bible 
controversy, mention might be made of: Im 
Kampfe um den Alten Orient. Wehr- und Streit- 
schriften, herausgegeben von Alfred Jeremias und 
Hugo Winckler. Leipzig. 1907. — H. Winckler: 
Die babylonische Kultur in ihren Beziehungen zur 
unsrigen. Leipzig. 1902. — H. Winckler: Ex 
Oriente Lux. Leipzig. 1906. (A series of 
pamphlets dealing with problems of Oriental 
Archaeology. ) — H. Winckler: Altorientalische 
Forschungen. Leipzig. 1906. — C. F. Lehmann: 
Bab3 r loniens Kulturmission einst und jetzt. Leip- 
zig. 1903. — H. Gunkel: Israel und Babylonien. 
Der Einfluss Babyloniens auf die israelitische Re- 
ligion. Gottingen. 1903. 

6. Of recent works of conservative scholars men- 
tion might be made of: Kurzgefasster Kommentar 
zu den Heiligen Schriften Alten und Neuen Tes- 
tamentes, herausgegeben von H. Strack und 0. 
Zockler. Munchen. C. H. Beck. Among the 

110 



NOTES 

contributors are Professors Oettli, von Orelli, 
Klostermann, Volck, Kessler. — H. L. Strack: Ein- 
leitung in das Alte Testament. 6. Auflage. 
Miinchen. 1906. — A. Klostermann: Der Penta- 
teuch. Beitrage zu seinem Verstandnis und seiner 
Entstehungsgeschichte. Neue Folge. Leipzig. 
1907. — J. Koberle: Siinde und Gnade im religiosen 
Leben des Volkes Israel. Miinchen. 1905. — F. 
Bennewitz: Die Siinde im alten Israel. Leipzig. 
1907. — Ed. Konig: Prophetenideal, Judentum und 
Christentum. Leipzig. 1906. — E. Sellin: Bei- 
trage zur israelitischen und jiidischen Religions- 
geschichte. Leipzig. 1905. — S. Oettli: Ge- 
schichte Israels bis auf Alexander den Grossen. 
Calw. 1905. 

7. A. Harnack: Die Chronologie der altchrist- 
lichen Literatur bis Eusebius. Leipzig. 1897. — 
A. Harnack: Lukas der Arzt. Leipzig. 1906. — 
The most elaborate and valuable work which recent 
conservative scholarship has produced in New Tes- 
tament Introduction is Theodor Zahn: Einleitung 
in das Neue Testament. 3. Auflage. Leipzig. 
1905. — The most important New Testament Com- 
mentary is the Kommentar zum Neuen Testament. 
Herausgegeben von Theodor Zahn. Leipzig. The 
contributors are Profs. Bachmann, Ewald, Llorn, 
Riggenbach, Seeberg, Wohlenberg. Seven vol- 
umes have appeared. The volumes by Prof. Zahn 
on Matthew and Galatians have passed through 
two editions in a short time. 

Ill 



NOTES 

Lecture II. 

1. O. Pfleiderer: Christentum und Religion. 3 
volumes. Miinchen. 1906-07. — H. Zimmern: 
Keilinschriften und Bibel. Berlin. 1903. Cf. 
also Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament. — A. 
Jenssen: Das Gilgamesch-Epos in der Weltlitera- 
tur. Strassburg. 1907. 

£. A. Schweitzer: Von Reimarus zu Wrede. 
Tubingen. 1906. — R. H. Griltzmacher : 1st das 
liberale Jesusbild modern? (In the series: Bib- 
lische Zeit- und Streitf ragen. ) Berlin. 1907. 

3. A, Harnack: Das Wesen des Christentums. 
Leipzig. 1900. And later, — English translation : 
What is Christianity? New York. J. P. Putnam. 
— Bousset: Jesus. 3. Auflage. Tubingen. 1907. 
( In Religionsgeschichtliche Volksblicher. ) — Bous- 
set: Was wissen wir von Jesus? Tubingen. 1905. 
— H. Weinel: Jesus im 19. Jahrhundert. Tu- 
bingen. 1907. — H. Weinel: Paulus. Tubingen. 
1904.— W. Wrede: Paulus. Tubingen. 1907.— 
W. Wrede: Das Messiasgeheimnis in den Evan- 
gelien. Gottingen. 1901. — P. Wernle: Die Quel- 
len des Lebens Jesu. Tubingen. 1906. — A. 
Jiilicher: Die Religion Jesu. Leipzig. 1904. (In 
"Kultur der Gegenwart.' 5 ) — A. Jiilicher: Neue 
Linien in der Kritik der evangelischen Ueberliefer- 
ung. Giessen. 1906. 

112 



N OTES 

4. G. Frenssen: Hilligenlei. Berlin. 1906. — 
Ed. von Hartmann: Das Cbristentum des Neuen 
Testamentes. Berlin. 1905. — A. Drews: Die Re- 
ligion als Selbstbewusstsein Gottes. Jena. 1906. 
— W. von Schnehen: Der moderne Jesuskultus. 
Leipzig. 1906. — C. A. Bernoulli: Christus in 
Hilligenlei. Jena. 1906.— A". Kalthoff: Das 
Christusproblem. Jena. 1903.— #. Kalthoff: 
Die Entstehung des Cbristentums. Leipzig. 1904. 
— E. Rasmussen: Jesus, eine vergleichende psycho- 
pathologische Studie. 1905. — Dr. de Loosten: 
Jesus Christus vom Standpunkte des Psychiaters. 
1905. 

Lecture III. 

1. R. Seeberg: Die Kirche Deutschlands im 
neunzehnten Jahrhundert. 4. Auflage. Leipzig. 
1903. — R. Seeberg: Die Grundwahrheiten der 
christlichen Religion. 4. Auflage. Leipzig. 1906. 
— R. Seeberg: Aus Religion und Geschichte. Ge- 
sammelte Aufsatze und Vortrage. Leipzig. 1906. 
— Theodor Kaftan: Moderne Theologie des Alten 
Glaubens. 2. Auflage. Berlin. 1906. — R. GruU- 
macher: Die Forderung einer modernen positiven 
Theologie. Leipzig. 1905. — R. Griitzmacher : 
Modern-positive Vortrage. Leipzig. 1906. — 
Karl Beth: Die Moderne und die Prinzipien der 
Theologie. Berlin. 1907. 

Reviews of these books and articles bearing on 
the "Modern-Positive" theology can be found in 

8 113 



NOTES 

all the theological magazines. Of pamphlets we 
mention: W. Schmidt: Moderne Theologie des 
alten Glaubens in kritischer Beleuchtung. Gu- 
tersloh. 1906. — W. Schmidt: Die Forderung 
einer modernen positiven Theologie in kritischer 
Beleuchtung. Giitersloh. 1906. — Pastor Dunk- 
mann: Moderne Theologie des alten Glaubens. 
Giitersloh. 1906. — E. Schaeder: Die Christologie 
der Bekenntnisse und die moderne Theologie. 
Giitersloh. 1905. — Martin Schian: Zur Beurteil- 
ung der modernen positiven Theologie. Giessen, 
1907. 

Very helpful are: Fr. Kropatscheck : Die Auf- 
gaben der Christusglaubigen Theologie in der Ge- 
genwart. Berlin. 1905. — Karl Girgensohn: 
Zwolf Reden iiber die christliche Religion. 
Munchen. 1906. 



114 



27 1908 



fit 



20 






s/ 



